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They marched through crying “Way for the Queen.” 

Page 199 



BILLIE BRADLEY AND 
HER CLASSMATES 


OR 

THE SECRET OP THE LOCKED TOWER 


BY 

JANET D. WHEELER 

AUTHOR OF "BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE;” “BILLIE 
BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND,” ETC, 


ILLUSTRATE!} 


NEW YORK 

GEORGE SULLY & COMPANYj 

PUBLISHERS 



BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES 
BY JANET D. WHEELER 
i2mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 


PZrf 



Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance 
Or The Queer Homestead at Cherry 
Corners 

Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall 
Or Leading a Needed Rebellion 

Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island 
Or The Mystery of the Wreck 

Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 
Or The Secret of the Locked Tower 


GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK 


Copyright, 1921, by 
GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY 


Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 


PRINTED IN U. S. A. 


AUG -S '21 

§)C!. A622330 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 


I 

Thin Ice . .. 



... 

!•’ f.’ 

r*i 

I 

II 

Nearly Frozen . 




• . 


8 

III 

Polly Haddon . 




[•’ '• 

[• 

1 6 

IV 

Generous Plans 




i*i 


26 

V 

Bearding the Lion 






32 

VI 

Trouble . 






40 

VII 

Settling a Score 






49 

VIII 

Just Like Billie! 






56 

IX 

Into Space . 






64 

X 

The Cave . . . 






72 

XI 

The Simpleton . 






80 

XII 

The Accusation 






88 

XIII 

Billie Is Chosen 






96 

XIV 

A Blood-Stained Handkerchief . 


104 

XV 

A Discovery . 






112 

XVI 

Christmas Cheer 






120 

XVII 

Billie on Guard 






130 

XVIII 

Amanda’s Revenge 




l# !•? 

r*i 

138 

XIX 

The Tower Room 

» 



l« i*: 

!a , 

146 


iii 


IV 


Contents 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XX Stolen . . .• w . >, w .■ . 154 

XXI More Mystery . t . f . . . 162 

XXII First Prize . . . . 169 

XXIII Disgraced . . . w . .. 178 

XXIV Triumph .... w w . 186 

XXV Pretty Frocks ., w M r . ; w 196 


BILLIE BRADLEY 
AND HER CLASSMATES 

CHAPTER I 

THIN ICE 

Click! click! click! went three pairs of skates 
as three snugly-dressed girls fairly flew along the 
frozen surface of the lake. 

“Isn’t it glorious?” cried the laughing, brown- 
eyed one, who was no other than Billie Bradley, 
as she threw back her head and sniffed the crisp, 
cold air. “Who ever heard of the lake freezing 
over in the middle of November? And the ice is 
pretty solid, too.” 

“In spots,” added Violet Farrington, a slender, 
dark girl with black hair and dark eyes. 

“What do you mean — ‘in spots’ ?” asked the third 
of the trio, Laura Jordon. Laura was as fair as 
Violet was dark, and now her blue eyes darted an 
anxious glance at her chum. “Do you think we 
shall find any thin ice?” 

“I don’t know, of course,” Violet answered 


2 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

quickly. “But you notice Miss Walters told us to 
stay close to the shore, and that certainly looks as 
if she weren’t any too certain about the ice.” 

Miss Walters was the much-loved principal of 
Three Towers Hall, the boarding school which the 
girls were attending, and to the three chums, Miss 
Walters’ word was law. 

As Billie Bradley had said, Lake Molata, upon 
which Three Towers Hall was situated, had frozen 
over unusually early this year. Though it was 
not quite the middle of November, there had been 
several rather heavy snowfalls. The thermometer 
had fallen lower and lower till it had dropped be- 
low the freezing point, and after a few days of this 
falling weather a thin glaze of ice had begun to 
form over the still surface of the lake. 

At first the girls had not been too joyful, fearing 
that the ice was too fragile to last and that one good 
thaw would do away with it entirely. 

But the thaw had not come, and as day after day 
the prematurely cold weather continued, the girls 
at the Hall had grown more and more excited. 
Finally they could stand it no longer and dispatched 
a committee of three to Miss Walters — among whom 
had been Billie — asking for the unique privilege of 
skating over the frozen surface of Lake Molata in 
the middle of November. 

The petition had been granted, with the reserva- 
tion, as Vi had said, that the girls should stay close 


Thin Ice 


3 

to shore and not venture out into the uncertain cen- 
ter of the lake. 

When the jubilant committee of three had 
brought back the glad news to the eagerly waiting 
girls the dormitories had been the scene of wild but 
noiseless fancy dancing in celebration of the great 
event. 

Soon after was heard the clinking of skates and 
the babble of excited girls’ voices as those of the 
students who were lucky enough to have prepared 
their lessons for the next day, and so had the after- 
noon free, made ready for the fun. 

Then, down the sloping lawn of Three Towers 
Hall, the hard, crusted snow crackling merrily un- 
der their feet, down to the edge of the lake where 
skates were put on, mufflers tightened and woolly 
caps pulled well down to protect ears that already 
were feeling the nip of the cold, rushed the crowd 
of excited, happy girls. 

Fun! Any one who has tasted the joy of skat- 
ing over freshly-frozen ice on a crisp winter day 
when the sun, pouring down, seems only to make 
the air more chill, any one who has tasted that joy, 
knows that there is no other sport like it. 

So, singly, in groups of two or three, in parties 
of four, the girls spread out over the lake, their 
gayly hued caps and sweaters making vivid patches 
of color on the surface. 

Although they had started out with the rest of 


4 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

*> 1 

the girls, Billie and Laura and Vi had become sepa- 
rated from them some way or other, and they now 
found themselves skimming merrily along with not 
another person in sight. This did not worry them, 
however, because they had learned by experience 
that whenever the three of them were together they 
were always sure of having a good time. 

“A week from now,” Billie cried, strands of hair 
escaping from under her tam-o'-shanter and whip- 
ping about her glowing face, “the lake will prob- 
ably look as though we had dragged a farmer’s 
plow across it.” 

“A week from now we may not have any ice at 
all,” added Vi pessimistically. 

Laura, who was skating between them, let go 
their hands for a moment to fasten her sweater 
still more closely about her throat. The wind had 
stung her face to a vivid red. 

“I must say you both sound cheerful,” she said 
reproachfully, adding with a gay little toss of her 
head: “From the way this wind feels, I’d say we 
were going to have ice all winter.” 

“Don’t wake her up, she is dreaming,” sang 
Billie mockingly, adding, as Laura gave her a push 
that would have unbalanced a less skillful skater: 
“Who ever heard of Lake Molata being frozen over 
all winter?” 

“Well, who ever heard of its being frozen over 
in the middle of November ?'” Laura retorted, adding 


Thin Ice 


5 

with a grin as Billie looked nonplussed: “I guess 
that will hold you for a while.” 

'‘Laura Jordon,” said Vi, folding her mittened 
hands and trying to look very prim and teacher- 
like, “report to Miss Walters immediately. That 
is the third time you have used slang this mom- 
mg. 

The girls giggled, and this time it was Vi who 
got the push. 

“Go long with you,” said Billie gayly. “You 
can’t imitate the Dill Pickles in a red sweater and 
a green cap.” 

The Dill Pickles, as my old readers will remem- 
ber, were two teachers, Miss Ada and Miss Cora 
Dill, who had recently lived at the Hall. The two 
had done their best to make the girls’ lives miserable 
and had finally, after the students had revolted and 
marched out of the school, been sent away by Miss 
Walters. 

The vacancies had been filled by teachers who 
were as different from the Miss Dills in every way 
as they could be, and since then life at Three Towers 
Hall had been one happy round of study and fun 
for the girls. 

“Thank goodness the Dills have gone forever,” 
said Vi, in response to Billie’s observation. 

“Yes,” agreed Laura, reminiscently. “It was a 
lot of trouble, getting rid of them, but it was worth 
it.” 


6 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“There are only nice teachers up at the Hall 
now,” said Billie, contentedly. “Especially Miss 
Arbuckle.” 

“Isn’t she ducky?” said Laura, enthusiastically, 
if disrespectfully. “I was afraid she might change 
her mind and take up her old job of governess to 
those two kiddies.” 

“I wouldn’t have blamed her much, if she had,” 
Vi said, with a chuckle. “She might make the little 
children behave, while with us ” 

“She hasn’t a chance,” giggled Billie. 

“Just the same,” put in Laura, with unusual grav- 
ity, “you notice that we all do what Miss Arbuckle 
says. She isn’t stern like Miss Race, either, nor 
nasty like the Dill Pickles used to be. I guess we 
just obey her because we all like her,” she finished 
simply. 

“That’s right, and ” Billie was saying when 

suddenly the ice cracked under her skates and with 
a cry she lunged forward. Luckily her feet struck 
on solid ice beyond the cracked part, and with diffi- 
culty she regained her balance. 

“The ice!” she gasped, as Laura and Vi stared 
at her. “I struck a thin spot, I guess. Goodness, 
that scared me !” 

“I should say so,” agreed Laura, with a little 
whistle of astonishment as she edged over to the 
treacherous place in the ice which was crisscrossed 


Thin Ice 


7 

over with long cracks. “Look here, girls. I could 
almost push this ice through with my finger.” 

“Well, don’t try it,” advised Vi, backing away 
anxiously from the dangerous spot. “I wonder if 
there are any more places like it.” 

“S’pose there are — lots of them,” said Billie, who 
had recovered from her fright and was disposed to 
treat the whole thing as a joke. “The thing for us 
to do is to keep out of their way, that’s all.” 

“Sounds easy,” grumbled Vi as they joined hands 
again and skated on more slowly over the frozen 
surface. “But how are we going to know where 
the thin places are unless we step on ’em — and fall 
through, maybe?” 

“P’r’aps we’d better go back if ” Billie was 

beginning uneasily when a sudden, terrified scream 
cut her short. It was a child’s scream and it was 
followed by another, and yet another. 

“Oh!” cried Laura wildly, “somebody’s getting 
killed.” 


CHAPTER II 


NEARLY FROZEN 

The screams for help seemed to be quite near 
the girls, but whoever was in trouble was hidden 
from them by a sharp bend in the lake shore. 

Without further thought of danger to themselves, 
the chums skated forward swiftly, the long fringed 
ends of their scarfs flying out behind them and their 
bodies, thrown eagerly forward. 

“Maybe somebody is drowning!” 

“It’s some great peril, you may be sure of that 
— otherwise they wouldn’t scream so.” 

“They are children!” 

“Yes, and little ones at that, if I am any judge of 
voices.” ' 

Thus talking excitedly the girls skated forward 
along the lake shore. Then came a sudden scream 
from Vi. She had skated too close to an overhang- 
ing tree and a branch caught in her hair as she 
tried to sweep past. 

“Wait! wait!” she cried. “Don’t leave me be- 
hind !” 

“What’s the trouble?” came simultaneously from 
the others. 


8 


9 


Nearly Frozen 

“Pm caught — my hair is fast in the tree.” 

“Pull yourself loose,” cried Billie. “Hurry, do! 
Oh, just listen to those cries !” she added, as scream 
after scream rent the wintry air. 

In frantic haste poor Vi tried to do as bidden. 
But the tree was a thorny one, and she had con- 
siderable trouble to liberate herself. 

Then came fresh trouble as Billie’s left skate be- 
came loosened. 

“I’ve got to fasten it,” she said, and bent down 
to do so. Then the classmates swept forward as 
before. 

They rounded the bend in the lake a minute later 
and then drew up suddenly as they came upon a 
singular scene. 

Three small children, a boy and two girls, were 
standing up to their waists in the icy water. Evi- 
dently they had ventured out upon the lake in a 
spirit of mischief, and had stepped upon thin ice 
which had given way beneath even their slight 
weight. Luckily they had not got far from the 
shore, for if the ice had broken through in a deeper 
part of the lake they must surely have been 
drowned. As it was, they were three very badly 
frightened children who were beginning to feel 
numb with the cold. 

At sight of the girls they began to wail afresh 
and held out their little arms imploringly. 

The sight was too much for Billie, and she began 


io Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

to edge her way cautiously along the thin ice, call- 
ing to the girls to follow her example. 

‘‘Be careful,” she warned. “If we went through, 
too, it would be hard to get out, and while we were 
trying it the kiddies would probably freeze to death. 
Look out !” she exclaimed, as the ice cracked treach- 
erously under her weight. “It is paper-thin right 
here.” 

And while the girls are busy at their work of 
rescue we will take a few minutes to tell those who 
are meeting Billie Bradley and her chums for the first 
time something of the good times the girls have had 
in other volumes of the series. 

In the first book, called “Billie Bradley and Her 
Inheritance,” the girls had many and varied ad- 
ventures, some of which were thrilling and others 
only funny. Just when Billie was wondering how 
to raise one hundred dollars to pay for a statue 
which she had accidentally broken, a queer old aunt 
of hers, Beatrice Powerson by name, died and left 
to her an inheritance which had at first seemed a 
doubtful blessing, namely a rambling gloomy old 
homestead at a place called Cherry Corners. 

The house dated back to Revolutionary times and 
had many weird and romantic legends attached to 
it. The girls, anxious to see the old place for them- 
selves, had decided to spend their vacation there, 
and a little later some boys had joined them. 

They had an unusual and exciting time of it and 


II 


Nearly Frozen 

the climax of the whole outing was the finding of 
a shabby old trunk which was hidden away in the 
attic. This trunk contained five thousand dollars’ 
worth of rare old coins and queer postage stamps, 
and this small fortune enabled Billie not only to re- 
place the statue she had broken but gave her more 
than enough to send herself to Three Towers Hall 
and her brother Chet to Boxton Military Academy. 

But we forgot entirely to introduce the boys! 
And they at least considered themselves by far the 
most important part of the story. Here they are 
then — First of all comes Chetwood Bradley, Billie’s 
brother, whom his friends called Chet for short. 
Chet was a lovable boy, good-looking, quiet, re- 
served and devoted to Billie — whose real name, by 
the way, was Beatrice. 

Then there was Ferd Stowing, an all-around 
good-natured boy who always added a great deal 
to whatever fun was at hand. And last, but not 
least, Laura’s brother Teddy. Teddy was fifteen, 
as were the other boys, but, unlike them, he looked 
quite a good deal older than he was. He was tall, 
with -wavy hair and handsome gray eyes and an 
athletic build which was the envy of most of the 
boys at North Bend, where *he young folks lived. 
Teddy had always liked Billie a lot because, as he 
told his sister, Laura, Billie was the nearest like a 
boy of all the girls he knew. She liked sports al- 
most as well as he did and so as a matter of course 


12 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

they played tennis and hiked and skated a good deal 
together. 

Returning from their vacation in the old home- 
stead at Cherry Comers, the girls went straight to 
Three Towers Hall, the boarding school to which 
their parents were sending them, partly because the 
young folks wanted to go and partly because the 
high school at North Bend was hopelessly ineffi- 
cient and unsatisfactory. 

At the same time, the boys departed for Boxton 
Military Academy which was only a little over a 
mile from the boarding school and which was also 
situated close to Lake Molata. 

The good times the young folks had at school 
are told in the second volume of the series entitled, 
“Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall.” The most 
startling thing that happened during the year was 
the capture of the man whom the boys and girls 
had named the “Codfish” on account of his pe- 
culiarly fish-like mouth. The latter had once at- 
tempted to steal Billie’s precious trunk, and had later 
on been suspected of planning and carrying out a 
robbery at Boxton Military Academy. Later, he 
had robbed Miss Race, one of the teachers at the 
Hall. 

The girls had made new friends — and enemies 
also, — at Three Towers Hall. Chief among the 
enemies were Amanda Peabody and her chum, Eliza 
Dilks. The girls were both sneaks and tattletales, 


Nearly Frozen 13 

and the former, being jealous of Billie and her 
chums, had done her best to make life unbearable 
for them at Three Towers. That the disagreeable 
girls had not succeeded, was not in the least their 
fault. 

Another enemy of Billie’s had been Rose Belser, 
a pretty, black-haired, very vain girl who was also 
jealous of Billie because of her unusual and im- 
mediate popularity with the girls. However, even 
Rose was won over to Billie’s side in the end and 
became sincerely repentant for her mean behavior. 

Connie Danvers, a pretty, fluffy-haired girl, be- 
came a staunch friend of the chums at once, and it 
was she who had invited Billie and Laura and Vi 
to spend their vacation at Lighthouse Island where 
her parents had a summer bungalow. Connie’s 
Uncle John, an interesting, bluff character, lived at 
the lighthouse on the island. 

The girls had become very much interested in a 
mystery surrounding Miss Arbuckle, one of the very 
nice new teachers who had come to Three Towers 
to replace the disagreeable “Dill Pickles.” They 
had also met a queer looking man one day when 
they were lost in the woods, and they had won- 
dered about him a great deal. 

It seems Miss Arbuckle had been very greatly 
disturbed over the loss of an album, and when 
Billie, accidentally stumbling upon the book, had re- 
turned it to the teacher, the latter had wept with 


14 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

joy. Turning over the pages of the album until 
she came to the pictures of three beautiful children 
she had cried out: “Oh my precious children. I 
couldn’t lose your pictures after losing you.” 

Of course this exclamation, together with Miss 
Arbuckle’s strange conduct, considerably puzzled 
the girls, and they wondered about it all during the 
vacation at Lighthouse Island. Then one day a 
terrible storm came up and a ship was wrecked on 
one of the treacherous shoals which surrounded the 
island. The girls, helping in the work of rescue, 
discovered three children lashed to a rude raft, and 
after releasing the little victims, the girls had car- 
ried them to the Lighthouse to be cared for. 

Later, Billie saw a marked resemblance in the 
three children to the pictures of the children she 
had seen in Miss Arbuckle’s album, and what 
strange discovery this led to is told in the third vol- 
ume of this series entitled “Billie Bradley on Light- 
house Island.” 

And now the girls were all back at Three Towers 
again in search of further education, likewise, they 
hoped, much fun and adventure. 

“Don’t come any farther,” Billie said to Laura 
and Vi, as she stretched herself out at full length 
on the ice and reached out to grasp one of the chil- 
dren in the water. “Lie down on the thick ice, both 
of you, and hold on to me just as hard as you can. 
When I say pull — pull!” 


Nearly Frozen 15 

Obediently Laura and Vi flopped down on the 
ice, each grasping one of Billie’s feet and holding 
on stoutly. 

“I’d like to see you get away from us now,” 
said Laura. 

Leaning over, Billie grasped the nearest child 
under the arms and tugged with all her strength. 

“Pull!” she gasped to the girls, “I’m slipping.” 

The girls pulled and dragged her, child and all, 
out on the more solid ice. They set the child on 
his poor shivering little feet and then went back 
for the next one. A moment more and all three of 
the little things were standing huddled together 
on the ice, shivering and crying miserably. 

“I wanna do home!” wailed the little boy. “I 
wanna do home.” 


CHAPTER III 


POLLY HADDON 

“Where do you live?” asked Billie, turning to the 
oldest of the three children. “Tell us quick, so 
we can get you there.” 

“We live wiv our muwer, Polly Haddon,” said 
the little one quaintly, pointing with a shivering fin- 
ger out across the lake. “We runned away dis 
momin’.” 

“So we see,” said Laura, adding, as she turned 
to Billie : “I think I know where they live. Teddy 
pointed the house out to me one day when we were 
taking a hike through the woods. Said he and the 
boys had stopped there one day and had bought some 
waffles and real maple syrup from Mrs. Haddon. 
Of course, I don’t know whether it is the same one 
or not ” 

“Well, come on — we’ll find out,” said Billie, lift- 
ing the largest of the three children in her strong 
arms. “You and Vi can manage the other two 
kiddies, I guess. You lead the way Laura, if you 
know where the house is.” 

“But hadn’t we better take our skates off and 
walk around?” suggested Vi. 

16 


Polly Haddon 17 

“We can make it quicker on skates,” said Billie 
impatiently, “because we can cut across the 
lake ” 

“But the ice!” Laura objected. “It may not be 
solid ” 

“We’ll have to take a chance on that,” Billie re- 
turned, adding with an exasperated stamp of her 
foot, “if you don’t hurry and show us the way, 
Laura, I’ll do it myself.” 

So Laura, knowing that nothing could change 
Billie’s mind when it was once made up, caught the 
little boy in her arms and started off across the 
lake, Billie and Vi following close behind her. 

Luckily the children were not heavy, being thin 
almost to emaciation, or the girls could never have 
made their goal. As it was, they had to stop sev- 
eral times and set the children down on the ice to 
rest. 

And more than once the treacherous ice cracked 
under their feet, frightening them horribly. They 
made it at last, however, and with a sigh of relief 
set the children on the ground while they fumbled 
with numbed fingers at their skate straps. 

“Is this where you live?” asked Billie of the 
elder of the two little girls. Billie had undone the 
last strap buckle and was peering off through the 
woods in search of some sort of habitation. 

“Yes,” answered the little girl through chatter- 


1 8 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

ing teeth. ^Our house is just a little way off, along 
that path.” 

She pointed to a narrow foot path, or rather, to 
the place where a foot path had once been. For 
now it was obliterated by snow and was indicated 
only very faintly by footprints recently made. 

Billie, seeing that the other girls were ready, 
caught up the little girl again, holding her close for 
warmth and started down the snow-covered path, 
Laura and Vi following. 

The snow was hard, which made the going a lit- 
tle easier, and in a minute or two they came in 
sight of a shabby cabin set in the heart of a small 
clearing. 

If the place had been a mansion, the girls could 
not have greeted the sight of it any more joyfully. 
They stumbled forward recklessly at the imminent 
risk of dropping the poor little children in the snow. 

Before they could reach the cottage the door of 
it opened and a woman stood on the threshold, hat- 
less and coatless and staring at them anxiously. 

When she recognized the children she gave a 
gesture of relief and backed into the house, mo- 
tioning to the girls to follow her. 

This the girls were not in the least reluctant to 
do, for they were chilled through, and the warmth 
of Mrs. Haddon’s kitchen was wonderfully com- 
forting. 

They set the children on the floor, and the little 


Polly Haddon 19 

ones ran straight to their mother. Polly Haddon 
dropped to her knees and put her arms around the 
three of them, cuddling them hungrily. 

“My precious little lambs, you frightened mother 
so!” she said. “She thought you were lost — but 
you are wet — or you have been!” She rose to her 
feet and faced the girls while the children clung to 
her skirts. 

“Where did you find my little ones?” she asked 
abruptly, looking anxiously from one to the other 
of them. 

“We found them up to their waists in icy water,” 
Billie explained, knowing that no time was to be 
lost if the children were to be saved from a bad 
cold. “They fell through the ice on the lake.” 

“Fell through the ice!” the woman repeated 
dumbly, then, seeming suddenly to realize the full 
seriousness of the situation, she roused herself to 
action. 

With a quick motion, she swept the children 
nearer to the warmth of the coal stove, then started 
for a door at the opposite end of the room. Then as 
if she realized that something was due the girls, 
she paused and looked back at them. 

“Draw up chairs close to the fire and warm your- 
selves,” she directed. “You must be nearly frozen.” 

The girls managed to find three rather rickety old 
chairs, and these they drew as close to the stove 
as they could without scorching their clothes. They 


20 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

tried to draw the children into their laps, but the 
children were either too miserable to want to be 
touched by strangers or they had become a little 
shy. At any rate, they drew away so sharply that 
one of them nearly fell on the stove. This fright- 
ened them all and they began to cry dismally. 

The girls were glad when Mrs. Haddon returned 
with three shabby but warm little bath robes which 
she hung close to the stove. Then she undressed 
the children quickly, rubbed their little bodies till 
they were in a glow, then slipped them into the snug 
robes. 

And all the time she was doing it she kept up 
a running fire of conversation with the girls. 

“Thank goodness,” she said, “I only missed the 
children a little while ago. They have always been 
so good to play close to the house, and I was so busy 
I didn’t look out as usual. And to think that they 
ran away and fell into the lake! Well, it’s only 
one more trouble, that’s all. It’s funny how a per- 
son can become used to trouble after a while.” 

“But it would have been so much worse,” Billie 
suggested, gently, “if the kiddies had fallen through 
into deeper water.” 

“Eh?” said Mrs. Haddon, looking up at Billie 
quickly, then down again. “Yes, I suppose that 
would have been worse.” Then she added, with a 
bitterness the girls did not understand: “It isn’t 
often that the worst doesn’t happen to me.” 


21 


Polly Haddon 

Puzzled, the girls looked at each other, then 
around the bare, specklessly clean little kitchen. 

That Mrs. Haddon was very poor, there could 
be no doubt. The shabbiness of the place, her 
dress, and the children’s clothes all showed that. 
But could poverty alone account for the sadness in 
her voice ? 

Mrs. Haddon had once been a very pretty woman, 
and she was sweet looking yet, in spite of the lines 
of worry about her mouth. She had lovely hair, 
black as night and thick, but she had arranged it 
carelessly, and long strands of it had pulled loose 
from the pins and straggled down over her fore- 
head. At this moment, as though she felt the eyes 
of the girls upon her, she flung the untidy hair 
back with an impatient movement. 

“How old are the kiddies?” asked Laura, feeling 
that the silence was becoming awkward. “They 
look almost the same age.” 

“There isn’t more than a year’s difference be- 
tween Mary and Peter here,” indicating the taller 
of the two little girls and the boy. “And Isabel is 
thirteen months younger than Peter. Mary is nine 
years old,” she added as a sort of afterthought. 

“Nine years old!” cried Vi, in surprise. “Why, 
that would make Peter eight and the little girl seven. 
I thought they were much younger than that.” 

“Yes,” added Laura, thoughtlessly, “they are very 
tiny for their age.” 


22 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

As though the innocent words had been a deadly 
insult, the woman rose from her knees and shot the 
girls so black a glance from her dark eyes that they 
were frightened. 

“My children are tiny — yes,” she said in a hard 
voice, repeating what Laura had said. “And no 
wonder they are small, when for years they have 
been half starved.” 

Then she turned quickly and herded the three 
frightened little ones out of the room. 

“You go to bed,” she said to them as they dis- 
appeared through the door. 

Left to themselves, the girls looked blankly at 
one another. 

“Billie, did you hear what I heard?” asked Laura, 
anxiously. “Did she really mean that the kiddies 
are so little because they don’t get enough to eat?” 

“Sounds that way,” said Billie pityingly. “Poor 
little things!” 

“We must find some way to help them,” Vi was 
beginning when Mrs. Haddon herself came into the 
room. 

She seemed to be sorry for what she had said, 
and she told them so. She drew up the only chair 
that was left in the bare little room and sat down, 
facing the chums. 

“You must have thought it very strange for me 
to speak as I did,” she began, and went on hur- 
riedly as the girls seemed about to protest. “But 


Polly Haddon 23 

I have had so much trouble for years that some- 
times I don’t know just what I’m doing.” 

“Have you lived alone here for very long?” asked 
Billie, gently. 

“Ever since my husband died,” answered Polly 
Haddon, leaning back in her chair as though she 
were tired and smoothing her heavy hair back from 
her forehead. “He was an inventor,” she went on, 
encouraged by the girls’ friendly interest, to tell of 
her troubles. > “For years he made hardly enough 
to keep us alive, and after the children came we had 
a harder pull of it than ever. Then suddenly,” 
she straightened up in her chair and into her black 
eyes came a strange gleam, “suddenly, my husband 
found the one little thing that was wrong with the 
invention he had been working on for so long — 
just some little thing it was, that a child could al- 
most see, yet that he had overlooked — and we were 
fairly crazy with happiness. We thought we had 
at last realized our dream of a fortune.” 

She paused a moment, evidently living over that 
time in her mind, and the girls, fired by her excite- 
ment, waited impatiently for her to go on. 

“What happened then?” asked Vi. 

“Then,” said the woman, the light dying out of 
her eyes, leaving them tired and listless again, “the 
invention was stolen.” 

“Stolen!” they echoed, breathlessly. 


24 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

The woman nodded wearily. She had evidently 
lost all interest in her story. 

“My husband suspected a Philadelphia knitting 
company, whom he had told of his invention and 
who were very enthusiastic over it, of having some 
hand in the robbery. But when he accused them 
of it they denied it and offered a reward of twenty 
thousand dollars for the recovery of the models of 
the machinery.” 

“Twenty thousand dollars !” repeated Billie in 
an awed tone. “I guess they must have liked your 
husband’s invention pretty well to offer all that 
money for it.” 

The woman nodded, drearily, while two big tears 
rolled slowly down her face. 

“Yes, I think they would have accepted it and 
paid my husband almost anything he would have 
asked for it,” she answered. 

“But haven’t you ever found out who stole it?” 
asked Vi, eagerly. “I should think that the thief, 
whoever he is, would have brought the invention 
back because of the twenty thousand dollars.” 

The woman nodded again. 

“Yes, that was the queer thing about it,” she 
said. “When the knitting company first told us of 
the reward we were jubilant, my husband and I. 
We thought surely we would recover the precious 
invention then. But as the weeks went by and we 
heard nothing, the strain was too much. Poor 


Polly Haddon 25 

Frank, after all those years of struggle, with vic- 
tory snatched away at the last minute, when he had 
every right to think it in his grasp — my poor hus- 
band could fight no longer. He died.” 

With these words the poor woman bowed her 
head upon her hands and sobbed brokenly. The 
girls, feeling heartily sorry for her trouble but help- 
less to comfort her, rose awkwardly to their feet 
and picked up their skates from the floor where they 
had thrown them. 

Billie went over to the sobbing woman and patted 
her shyly on the shoulder. 

“I — I wish I could help you,” she ventured. “I 
— we are dreadfully sorry for you.” 

Then as the woman neither moved nor made an 
answer, Billie motioned to Laura and Vi and they 
stepped quietly from the room into the chill of the 
open, closing the door softly behind them. 


CHAPTER IV 


GENEROUS PLANS 

The girls talked a great deal of Mrs. Haddon 
and her trouble as they put on their skates and 
slowly skated back to the Hall. 

“It must be dreadful/' Laura was saying thought- 
fully just as the three towers of the school loomed 
up before them, “not to have enough to eat. Just 
think of it, girls, to be hungry — and not have 
enough to eat !” 

No wonder this condition of affairs seemed un- 
usually horrible, in fact almost impossible to lux- 
ury-loving Laura, whose father was one of the rich- 
est and most influential men in rich and influential 
North Bend. To Laura it seemed incredible that 
every one should not have enough and to spare of 
the good things that, rightly used, go to make hap- 
piness in this strange old world. She had never 
known what it was to have a wish that was not 
gratified almost on the instant. 

“Yes, it must be awful," Billie answered soberly, 
in response to Laura's exclamation. “And I’m 
sure,'* she added decidedly, “that I won't be able to 
26 


Generous Plans 27 

enjoy another good meal until I know that those 
three poor little kiddies and Mrs. Haddon have had 
all they could possibly eat — for once, at least.” 

“What do you mean?” they asked, wonderingly. 

“We’ll pack a basket,” planned Billie, growing 
excited over the great idea which had just that min- 
ute occurred to her. “We’ll put everything in it 
that we can possibly think of, chicken sandwiches 
and a bottle of current jelly, a thermos bottle of hot 
coffee and another of milk for the children ” 

“Say wake up, wake up,” begged Laura, irrever- 
ently. “Where do you suppose we are going to get 
all this stuff anyway? It’s too late to go to 
town ” 

“Who said anything about going to town?” Billie 
interrupted impatiently. “I’m going straight to 
Miss Walters and tell her all about the Haddon 
family and ask her to let us raid the kitchen and 
make up the basket ourselves. We can pay for the 
things,” she added, as an afterthought. 

“It’s a bright idea — but it takes nerve,” said 
Laura slangily. “Miss Walters may not like the 
idea of feeding the countryside.” 

“I’m not asking her to feed the countryside,” 
Billie retorted, adding comfortably as a picture of 
Miss Walters, white-haired, blue-eyed and sweet, 
rose before her : “I’m sure she will let us do it just 
this once.” 

For Miss Walters, strict though she was at main- 


28 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

taining discipline in the school, was nevertheless gen- 
erosity and kindness itself to every one about her. 

“But,” said Laura, uttering one last protest, “I 
don’t believe Mrs. Haddon would accept anything 
that looked like charity. She’s too proud.” 

“We won’t take any chances on her being too 
proud to accept it,” said Billie decidedly, adding with 
a chuckle: “We’ll do the way the boys used to do on 
Hallowe’en, ring the bell and run.” 

They had no other chance to talk, for in a minute 
they were surrounded by about a dozen of their 
classmates who all began scolding them at once 
about running away and demanded to know where 
they had been, so that plans for the Haddons were 
pushed temporarily into the background. 

Laughing and shouting to each other the girls 
took off their skates and scrambled up the long 
terraced hill that led to Three Towers. 

If the Hall and its surroundings were beautiful in 
the summer time, it was even more attractive in the 
winter. The ivy that covered the green-gray stone 
of the building was now frosted white with snow 
and ice, and this, catching the ruddy gleam of the 
afternoon sun, gave the Hall the appearance of a 
great, sparkling jewel. 

The three towers which gave the school its name 
made the place seem like some castle of old, and the 
surrounding trees and shrubbery, heavily coated with 


Generous Plans 29 

snow and icicles, gave to the old building just the 
air of mystery that it needed. 

The beauty of the familiar place struck Billie 
afresh, and she stopped short suddenly and gazed 
up at it with loving eyes. 

‘‘Isn’t it lovely to have a place like this to come 
home to?” she said, as the girls looked at her in- 
quiringly, “when you are tired and cold and ” 

“Hungry,” finished Laura, giving her a shove. 
“Giddap, Billie, you’re slowing down the works.” 

“Slang again,” sighed Vi, plaintively, as Billie 
obligingly “giddaped.” “If I should tell Miss Wal- 
ters ” 

“You would never live to tell another tale,” 
prophesied Laura, amid a gale of laughter from the 
girls. “Two sneaks and tattletales are enough,” 
she added significantly, as she caught sight of 
Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks walking a little 
ahead of them. 

“I wonder where Connie and Nellie have kept 
themselves,” said Billie, as she with the other girls 
crowded through the wide door of the Hall. 

“They were up in the dorm, cramming for the 
exams when I saw them last,” said a tall girl at 
Billie’s elbow. She had evidently not been with 
the girls on the lake, for she wore no coat or hat 
and she carried a book under each arm as though 
she also had been studying. 

“Oh, hello, Carol!” greeted Billie, putting an arm 


30 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

about the tall girl and sweeping her toward the 
stairs. “So you’ve been grinding away as usual 
when you ought to have been out getting some good 
fresh air. My, you look as pale as a ghost.” 

For the tall girl, so studiously inclined, was none 
other than Caroline Brant, who had been such a 
good friend to Billie upon her arrival at Three 
Towers Hall the year before. The girls were all 
fond of Caroline, in spite of the undeniable fact 
that she was one of those usually despised students 
commonly known as “grinds.” 

“You know I don’t skate,” Caroline said in re- 
sponse to Billie’s accusation. “And I never could 
see why people prefer freezing their toes and noses 
to staying comfortably indoors.” 

“You’re an old lamb,” said Billie with a squeeze. 
“But there are lots of things that you never will 
see!” 

As Caroline had predicted, the chums found Con- 
nie Danvers and Nellie Bane in the dormitory, curled 
up uncomfortably on the bed, heads bent discon- 
solately over two thick and bulky history books. 

When the door burst open and the chums swung 
into the room, skates slung over shoulders, eyes 
bright and cheeks glowing from exercise, the two 
on the bed flung away their books and looked de- 
spairingly at the newcomers. 

“Great heavens, here they are back already,” cried 
Connie, running her hands wildly through her 


Generous Plans 31 

fluffy hair. “And I haven’t learned more than five 
dates so I can say them straight.” 

“And that’s just five more than I have learned,” 
cried Billie gayly, dropping her skates in a corner 
and flinging herself on the edge of the bed. “Come 
closer, girls,” she added, lowering her voice to a 
mysterious whisper while Nellie and Connie 
wriggled over to her. “I would whisper in thine 
ear. We have met with an adventure!” 


CHAPTER V 


BEARDING THE LION 

The one word “adventure” was enough to make 
the girls all interest at once. Caroline Brant wedged 
herself into a square inch of space on the bed be- 
tween Connie and the bedpost, and as Rose Belser 
came in at that moment the girls motioned her to 
join them. 

“What’s up?” asked Rose, flinging off her cap 
and scarf as she came. ‘‘Billie been getting into 
mischief again? Or is it only trouble this time?” 

“Trouble, I guess,” said Billie, and then she told 
them the astonishing tale of what had happened that 
afternoon. But instead of being interested as she 
had expected them to be, the girls actually seemed 
disappointed. 

“Well, was that all you had to tell us?” asked 
Connie, when she had finished. “I’m surprised at 
you, Billie. I thought you had really done some- 
thing exciting.” 

“Yes,” added Rose, in her aggravating little 
drawl, as she rose to get ready for dinner, “it was 
awfully good of you to rescue those three annoying 
32 


Bearding the Lion - 33 

little brats and return them to their distracted mother 
and all that. But I don’t see anything dreadfully 
hair-raising about it.” 

Rose read books that were too old for her and 
ran with girls who were too old for her and so she 
herself contrived to seem much older than she was. 
And sometimes Billie found this manner extremely 
irritating, in spite of the fact that she and Rose were 
friends — now. 

“I suppose it doesn’t seem very exciting to you,” 
she said, as she pulled off her cap and unwound the 
muffler from about her neck. “But I presume you 
would be a little bit more interested if it was you 
who didn’t have enough to eat.” 

“Don’t be mad at us, Billie,” Connie begged, pat- 
ting Billie’s hand soothingly. “Of course we all 
feel sorry for the poor little kiddies and their mother 
and we want to help them all we can. But you can’t 
blame us for being disappointed when you said you 
had had an adventure.” 

“I wonder if you would call it an adventure,” 
mused Billie, more to herself than to them, “if 
one of us should find that stolen invention and claim 
the twenty thousand dollars reward for it!” 

Her classmates stopped what they were doing and 
stared at her. 

“Wh — what did you say?” demanded Connie. 

“You heard me,” said Billie, with a grin. 

“But, Billie, you know that’s absurd,” said Rose, 


34 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

in her best drawl. “How could we possibly hope to 
find a thing that has been missing for a couple of 
years ?” 

“It may be absurd,” said Billie good-naturedly, 
pulling the ribbon from her curls and brushing them 
vigorously. “I think it sounds foolish myself. But 
while there’s life, there’s hope. Hand me that comb, 
will you, Vi?” 

A few minutes later the big gong sounded through 
the halls, announcing gratefully to the hungry girls 
that dinner was ready. And now that the vinegary 
Misses Dill had gone, delight reigned supreme in 
the dining hall. 

The girls had all they could possibly eat of good 
satisfying food and they were allowed to chatter 
as much as they would as long as they did not be- 
come too noisy. 

But although they had chicken for dinner and 
cranberry sauce and creamed cauliflower, things all 
of which she especially liked, Billie enjoyed it less 
than any meal she had ever eaten. 

Again and again before her eyes arose the re- 
proachful images of the three little Haddons, under- 
sized, undernourished, half-starved. 

She could hardly wait until dessert had been 
served, and then, with a murmured word to Laura 
and Vi, she excused herself from the table and went 
in search of Miss Walters. 

She found that lady in the act of drinking her 


Bearding the Lion 35 

after-dinner coffee in the privacy of her own little 
domain. 

Miss Waters had a suite of three rooms all to 
herself : a bedroom, a dressing-room and a sitting- 
room, and all three of the rooms were fitted up in 
a manner that befitted a queen. 

The sitting-room was done in mahogany and 
blue. An exquisite Persian rug of dull blue covered 
the floor and the rich mahogany furniture was all 
upholstered in blue velour. The curtain draperies 
were all of this same rich blue over cream-colored 
lace. In the center of the room was a huge ma- 
hogany library table upon which stood a handsome 
reading lamp with a blue silk shade. 

Billie, who had never been in this sanctum before 
and who had seen Miss Walters only in her office, 
was amazed when, in reply to her timid knock, the 
principal invited her to enter. 

For a moment she stood dumbly staring, while 
Miss Walters set down her cup and looked up with 
a smile. The smile changed to a look of surprise 
and then to annoyance as the principal saw who the 
intruder was. 

“It must be something very important to bring 
you here at this hour, Beatrice,” said Miss Walters, 
while poor Billie began to wish herself back in the 
security of dormitory C. She was too frightened to 
explain her presence, and yet she knew that Miss 


36 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Walters expected an explanation. “What is it you 
wish?” asked the latter, impatiently. 

“I — I’m sorry,” said Billie at last, backing away 
toward the door. “I shouldn’t have come — but I 
thought — that is, I thought it was important.” She 
was half through the door by this time, and Miss 
Walters, her annoyance changing to amusement, 
took pity on her. 

“What was important?” she asked, adding, as 
Billie still continued to back away : “Come in here, 
Billie Bradley, and shut that door. There’s a draft 
in the hall.” 

Relieved at the use of the familiar name Billie, 
the girl obeyed, shutting the door softly, then turned 
imploringly to the teacher. 

“Sit down,” commanded the latter, pointing to 
one of the blue velour armchairs near by. “Now 
tell me the ‘important thing’ you came about while 
I finish my coffee.” 

Bfllie made poor work of her story at first, for 
she was still wondering how she had ever had the 
courage to approach Miss Walters in the privacy 
of her sanctum sanctorum, but as she went on she 
became less self-conscious and was encouraged by 
Miss Walters’ unfeigned interest. 

And when, at the end of the recital, Miss Walters 
reached over and patted her hand and told her she 
had been quite right in coming to her as she had, 
Billie was in the seventh heaven of delight. 


Bearding the Lion 3 7 

“With poverty behind them, fortune and com- 
fort ahead, and then again, desolation!” Miss Wal- 
ters mused, talking more to herself than Billie. 
“How the human mind can stand up under the strain 
is a mystery to me. Poor, starving little mites and 
pitiful, noble mother, fighting for her young with the 
only weapons she has. Lucky mother to have come 
to the notice of a girl like you, Billie Bradley,” 
she added, turning upon Billie so warm and bright 
a smile that the girl’s heart swelled with pride and 
adoration. 

“Then you will let us help the Haddons?” she 
asked breathlessly. 

“More than that,” smiled Miss Walters. “I will 
help you to help them. I think it is too late to 
follow out your plan of taking them something to- 
night.” But she added as she saw Billie’s bright 
face fall: “But we will pack a basket full to the 
brim with good things early to-morrow morning and 
you and Laura and Violet may take them to the 
cottage after breakfast. Only, you must walk 
around the lake. I could not take the chance of 
your skating after what happened this afternoon.” 

Billie stammered out some incoherent words of 
thanks, Miss Walters patted her cheek, and in an- 
other moment she found herself standing outside in 
the hall in a sort of happy daze. 

A girl passed her, eyed her curiously, went on a 
few steps and then came back. It was Eliza Dilks. 


38 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“In Miss Walters' room at night," said the sneer- 
ing voice that Billie knew only too well. “No won- 
der you get away with everything — teacher’s pet.” 

Billie started to retort angrily, but knowing that 
silence was the very worst punishment one could in- 
flict upon Eliza she merely shrugged her shoulders, 
turned up her straight little nose as far as it would 
go and walked off, leaving Eliza fuming helplessly. 

When Billie reached the dormitory she found the 
girls waiting for her in an agitated group. There 
was not one of them who would have dared to ap- 
proach Miss Walters after school hours unless it 
had been about a matter of life and death im- 
portance, and they had more than half expected that 
Billie would be carried back on a stretcher. 

When they found out what had really happened 
they welcomed Billie as a hero should be welcomed. 
They lifted her on their shoulders and carried her 
round the dormitory, chanting school songs till a 
warning hiss from one of the girls near the door 
sent them scuttling. By the time Miss Arbuckle 
reached the dormitory, they were bent decorously 
over their text-books, seeking what knowledge they 
might discover! 

Next morning, true to her word, Miss Walters 
herself superintended the packing of an immense 
basket with all the dainties at her command. There 
were chicken and roast beef sandwiches, half of a 
leg of lamb, two or three different kinds of jelly, 


Bearding the Lion 39 

some rice pudding left over from the night before, 
a big slab of cake, two quarts of fresh milk, and 
some beef tea made especially for the Haddons. 

And the girls, feeling more important than they 
had ever felt before in their lives, marched off after 
breakfast, during school hours — Miss Walters hav- 
ing personally excused them from class — joyfully 
bent upon playing the good Samaritan. 

“I never knew,’ , said Laura, as if she were making 
a great discovery, “that it could make you so happy 
to be kind to somebody else !” 


CHAPTER VI 


TROUBLE 

It was the girls’ intention at first to leave the 
hamper of good things before the Haddons’ door so 
that Mrs. Haddon would have no chance of refusing 
the gift through pride. 

But when they came to the little cottage after half 
an hour of steady walking, they found to their dis- 
may that Fate had taken a hand and spoiled all their 
plans. 

For Mrs. Haddon herself, a shawl over her head 
and looking even more worried and anxious than 
she had when they had seen her before, rounded the 
corner of the house and met them just as they 
reached the door. 

For a moment the girls had a panicky impulse to 
drop the basket and run, but on second thought they 
decided that that would be just about the worst thing 
they could possibly do. And while they were try- 
ing to think up something to say, Mrs. Haddon took 
the whole situation entirely out of their hands. 

At first she did not seem to recognize them, but 
the next instant her face lighted up with relief and 
40 


Trouble 


4i 

she opened the door of the cottage, beckoning them 
to enter. 

“Just stay here in the kitchen a minute where it’s 
warm,” she directed them in a strained tone, and 
before the girls had time to draw their breath she 
had disappeared from the room, leaving the class- 
mates alone. 

“Now we’ve gone and spilled the beans,” whis- 
pered slangy Laura, eyeing the blameless hamper 
disapprovingly as she warmed her chilled hands be- 
fore the stove. “I don’t suppose she will touch a 
thing now, and after we went and walked all this 
way, and everything, too ” 

“Sh-h,” cautioned Billie, a hand to her lips. 
“She’s coming back.” 

At that moment Mrs. Haddon did indeed come 
back into the kitchen. She closed the door very 
gently behind her and then came quickly toward the 
girls. 

“Listen,” she said breathlessly. “I don’t know 
who sent you, just now. Maybe it was God.” She 
caught her breath on the words and the girls re- 
garded her wonderingly and a little fearfully. For 
goodness’ sake ! what was she talking about ? 

“Anyway, you’ve come,” went on the woman, 
swiftly. “And if you want to, you can do me a great 
favor.” 

“What is it?” they asked together. 

“Run for the nearest doctor, one of you-— or all 


42 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

of you,” said the woman, her words stumbling over 
one another in her agitation. Peter, my little boy, 
is sick. If I don’t have a doctor very soon, he may 
die.” 

“Oh, where is the nearest doctor?” asked Billie, 
breathlessly, her eyes big with sympathy. “Tell me 
and I’ll go.” 

“Half a mile down the road!” said the woman. 
“Dr. Ramsey ! In the big white house ! These are 
his office hours. He should be at home. I just 
went to a neighbor’s, but she was not at home and 
I could not go myself. Peter would have been 
alone ” 

“I’ll go, and I’ll have him back here in half an 
hour,” promised Billie, running to the door as she 
spoke. But Laura grabbed her skirt and held on 
to it. 

“No, you stay here. I’ll go,” she said, thinking 
desperately of the food hamper and fearing that if 
Billie went for the doctor she would probably have 
to explain their mission. 

“I’ll go with you,” volunteered Vi, with the same 
thought in mind, and before Billie could do more 
than blink, her two chums had flashed through the 
door, closing it with a sharp little click behind them. 
Then it opened again for an instant and Laura put 
her pretty head inside. 

“You always could explain things so much better 
than the rest of us, Billie,” she said, by way of ex- 


Trouble 43 

cuse, it is to be supposed — and then the door closed 
again. 

It was good for Billie at that moment that she 
had been blessed with a sense of humor. Otherwise, 
she might have been a little put out. 

As it was, she took it as a joke on her and turned 
back resignedly to her task of telling why they had 
come to proud Polly Haddon. 

The latter was pacing the floor anxiously. Then, 
as a little moan came from the next room, she flew 
to the patient, leaving Billie entirely alone. 

The latter regarded the hamper uncertainly for 
a moment, then, with a sigh, she lifted it from the 
floor to the rickety kitchen table. 

‘Til let her see all the good things first, 1 ” she 
decided wisely, as she removed the cover from the 
basket, exposing to view its inviting contents. 
‘Then maybe she’ll be too busy looking at them to 
be angry.” 

So busy was she that she did not hear Mrs. 
Haddon reenter the room. Neither did she know 
that the latter was staring unbelievingly over her 
shoulder till a slight exclamation of wonder made 
her start and whirl round suddenly. 

“Where did you get all that ?” asked the woman, 
her eyes still fixed on the contents of the basket. 
“And what is it for?” 

“It’s — it’s for you — if you will take it, please,” 
stammered Billie, in her surprise and confusion say- 


44 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

ing what came first to her mind. “We — we thought 
maybe — maybe the kiddies would like the beef tea 

and milk and — and — things ” she finished 

weakly, thinking resentfully that the girls, or one 
of them anyway, might have stayed and helped her 
out. 

But after all, she need not have worried. For an 
instant the look that Billie had expected and dreaded 
flared into Polly Haddon’s eyes — a look of out- 
raged pride. But then the woman thought of the 
children — and she had no pride. 

“You said you brought some beef tea?” she re- 
peated, bending eagerly over the basket. “And 
milk?” 

“Two quarts of milk,” cried Billie, joyfully, the 
relief she felt singing in her voice. “And we made 
the beef tea fresh this morning. Why — why — 
what's the matter?” 

For Polly Haddon's black eyes had filled with 
tears and she had turned away impatiently to hide 
them. Beneath the worn old shawl, her thin shoul- 
ders shook in an effort to suppress her hysterical 
sobs. 

Then Billie ran to her and put her young arms 
around her and Polly Haddon, who had struggled 
so long and so bravely alone, clung to the girl hun- 
grily while she fought for self-control. 

“IPs so long!” she said huskily, “so long since 
any one did anything for us — for my babies ” 


Trouble 


45 

Her voice broke, and for a minute she just clung to 
Billie and let tears wash some of the bitterness from 
her heart. Then she straightened up suddenly, wiped 
the tears from her eyes with a handkerchief that 
Billie had slipped into her hand, and holding the 
girl off at arm’s length regarded her intently. 

“It seems,” said the woman softly, while Billie 
looked up at her out of clear, grave eyes, “that when 
things get as bad as they can be the Lord sends some- 
body to help. This time he sent you. Hark! 
What’s that?” 

It was only the restless turning of a feverish little 
body in bed, but the mother was instantly alert. 

“The beef tea!” she directed, and Billie quickly 
handed her one of the bottles. “He has had hardly 
any real nourishment since day before yesterday,” 
Polly Haddon went on as she poured the liquid 
into one of the pans on the stove and sniffed of it 
hungrily. “Strong beef tea is just what the little 
fellow needs.” 

Billie wondered while she watched Mrs. Haddon 
with pitying eyes. No nourishment for almost two 
days ! Why, if they had not come the children might 
have starved to death ! 

“Where are the two little girls?” she asked, re- 
membering suddenly that she had seen no sign of 
them. 

Mrs. Haddon said nothing for so long that Billie 
began to think she had not heard her question. Then 


46 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

the woman turned and faced the girl, holding a 
steaming cup of beef broth in her hand. 

“I’ve kept them in bed, too,” she said. “I was 
afraid they had caught cold, and then, too — one 
feels less hungry if one doesn’t move about.” 

Then abruptly she turned and once more left the 
room. Billie would have followed, but the thought 
that perhaps Polly Haddon would not wish her to 
held her back. The woman had accepted the food 
for her children’s sake, because they were practically 
starving. But in spite of that she was very proud. 
Perhaps she would not wish to have Billie see the 
poverty-stricken bareness of the rooms beyond. So 
Billie stayed in the kitchen and waited. 

Her eyes strayed nervously to an alarm clock that 
ticked away on a shelf over the sink. She wished the 
girls would come with the doctor. If little Peter 
was as sick as his mother thought he was, every 
minute might be precious. And besides that, they 
must get back to school. 

Then she heard the girls’ voices mingled with the 
gruff tones of a man — the doctor, of course — and 
her heart jumped with relief. The next moment the 
door was flung open and Laura and Vi came in, 
followed by an immense man who seemed to com- 
pletely fill the narrow doorway. Then Polly Had- 
don appeared in the doorway between the two rooms, 
an empty cup in her hand. At sight of the doctor 


Trouble 


4 7 

she set down the cap and motioned him eagerly into 
the other room. 

The latter glanced curiously at Billie, flung his 
hat on the kitchen table in passing, and disappeared 
with Mrs. Haddon into the sick room. 

“Just luck that we happened to catch the doctor 
on his way out,” panted Laura, for the big man had 
hustled the girls back to the cottage on a run. “Say, 
Billie,” she added, her eyes lighting on the opened 
hamper, “I see you did the trick. Any bones 
broken?” 

“Tell us about it,” begged Vi. 

“Fll tell you on the way home,” said Billie, her 
eye once more on the clock. “Miss Walters told us 
not to stay long, you know. We were to come right 
back.” 

“Gracious, look at the time!” cried Laura, in 
consternation, following Billie’s eyes to the clock. 
“Miss Walters will think we have eloped.” 

“I wish we could wait and see what the doctor 
says,” protested Vi, hanging back, and just then 
Billie raised a warning finger. 

“Listen,” she said. 

The doctor had raised his voice for a moment and 
his words came clearly to the girls where they stood 
near the door. 

“The boy is very sick, Mrs. Haddon,” he said. 
“It will take good nursing to pull him through and 
plenty of nourishing food.” He lowered his voice 


48 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

again and the rest of what he said was lost in a 
meaningless murmur. 

In the kitchen the girls stared at each other. 
“Plenty of nourishing food/’ whispered Billie. 
“Where is he going to get it?” 

“I guess,” said Laura, as she opened the door, 
“it is up to us !” 


CHAPTER VII 


SETTLING A SCORE 

The girls walked back to school in a rather 
thoughtful frame of mind. They were sorry for 
poor Mrs. Haddon, and they were worried about 
little Peter. 

“The sandwiches and milk and things that we 
brought this morning will last them a little while, ” 
Billie said. “But I don’t suppose Miss Walters 
would want us to take them food every morning.” 

“Oh, and that reminds me!” cried Laura. “You 
haven’t told us yet what happened after we ran for 
the doctor and left you alone with Mrs. Haddon.” 

“There isn’t very much to tell,” said Billie. “She 
didn’t want to touch the basket at first, but when she 
thought of the kiddies she changed her mind. She 
said that the children hadn’t had any real nourish- 
ing food since the day before yesterday.” 

The girls were silent for a moment, letting this 
last remark of Billie’s sink in. Then it was Billie 
who broke the silence. 

“I wonder,” she said, “how they have ever man- 
49 


50 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

aged to get along up to this time. They must have 
had something to live on.” 

“Why,” said Vi, wrinkling her forehead thought- 
fully, “the doctor said something about Mrs. Had- 
don having to give up her work because of ill health. 
Didn’t he, Laura?” 

“Yes,” said Laura, stuffing her hands deeper into 
her pockets. “He seems dreadfully sorry about 
poor little Peter. I heard him mumble something 
about troubles always coming in a heap.” 

“Oh,” said Billie, with a big long sigh, “if some- 
body could only stumble across those inventions 
someway or other! Then we could all be happy 
again.” 

For a moment her classmates stared at Billie 
blankly. They had all but forgotten about the in- 
vention. Somehow, Mrs. Haddon’s tale of a nearly 
won fortune had seemed unreal and vague to them 
— almost like a fairy story. And now here was 
Billie bringing it all up again and even talking about 
finding that knitting machine model ! 

“If it doesn’t always take you to think up impos- 
sible things, Billie Bradley,” said Vi. 

“Just the same,” Laura spoke up unexpectedly, 
“you must admit that lots of times Billie has done 
what we would think was impossible to do.” 

“Goodness, have you got ’em, too?” asked Vi, 
with a giggle. “We all know Billie’s a wonder, but 
I don’t think she is going to find an invention that 


Settling a Score 51 

has been missing for a long time. Probably it 
wouldn’t be any good, anyway. All rusted and 
everything.” 

“That wouldn’t make any difference,” Billie 
pointed out promptly. “As long as they had the 
model to copy from they could make any number of 
new machines just like it.” 

“All right, rave on, Macduff!” cried Laura, who 
was just beginning to read Shakespeare and who 
annoyed the other girls by insisting upon quoting 
him — incorrectly — upon all occasions. “If you can 
find this old thing and get a fortune out of it for 
Mrs. Haddon and the kiddies and twenty thousand 
nice little dollars for yourself, honey, nobody’ll be 
gladder than me.” 

“I,” corrected Violet sternly. “Don’t you know 
me is bad grammar?” 

“Well, me’s a bad girl,” said Laura irrepressibly, 
and the girls giggled. 

A few minutes later they came within sight of 
the school and found to their dismay that it was 
lunch hour. 

“Do you mean to say we have been gone all 
morning?” cried Laura, stopping short at the fa- 
miliar sight of the girls pouring out on the campus 
for a breath of air before their studies should com- 
mence again. “Goodness, Miss Walters will murder 
us.” 

“Oh, come on,” cried Billie, hurrying the girls 


52 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

along. “Haven’t we been on an errand of mercy — 
and everything? She can’t kill us for that, even if 
we were a long time about it.” 

Greetings and laughing gibes were flung at the 
girls as they hurried across the snow-covered cam- 
pus, but they did not stop to answer. They wanted 
to see Miss Walters, explain why they were so late, 
and get a bite of something to eat before the after- 
noon classes began. 

They had almost reached the door when a voice 
called to Billie from overhead. She looked up un- 
suspectingly and received an avalanche of snow right 
in the face, almost blinding her and sending her 
staggering back against her chums. 

Sputtering and choking, she dashed the snow from 
her eyes and looked up to see who had done such a 
mean thing. There at a window just over her head 
was the grinning face of Amanda Peabody. In a 
flash Billie realized that it had been Amanda who 
had pushed the snow from the window ledge upon 
her. 

“Want some more ?” asked that disagreeable per- 
son in response to Billie’s stare. “There’s just a 
little bit left,” and she made a gesture as if to push 
the rest of the snow from the windowsill down upon 
Billie’s upturned face. 

But Billie did not wait to see whether she would 
really have done it. With a cry she made for the 
door of the school, pushing through a group of the 


Settling a Score 53 

girls who had gathered at the first sign of a fracas. 
Laura and Vi followed, fuming. 

As usual, instead of staying and facing the con- 
sequences of her own deeds, Amanda tried to get 
away. But Billie was too quick for her. The 
former reached the door of the room just as 
Amanda darted through it, bent upon escape. 

Her eyes blazing, Billie seized the girl’s arm and 
hurried her through the hall, Laura and Vi assist- 
ing, and a delighted crowd following close behind. 

“You let me go — you big cowards, you!” splut- 
tered Amanda, almost crying with rage and fright. 
“You let me go, Billie Bradley! I’ll tell Miss Wal- 
ters.” 

“Go ahead and tell Miss Walters, you miserable 
sneak!” cried Billie, giving the girl a contemptuous 
shake. “But you won’t tell her till I’m through with 
you.” 

“What are you going to do?” whined Amanda, 
too scared now even to bluster. “I won’t do it 
again, honest I won’t. Only let me go.” 

“Don’t you do it, Billie,” cried one of the girls in 
the following crowd. “Don’t let her off so easy.” 

But Billie had no intention of letting her enemy 
off easily. Having now reached the outside door, 
she shoved it open, at the same time motioning to 
Vi and Laura to let go of Amanda. 

Then she dragged the whimpering, whining girl 
over to a spot where the wind had formed the snow 


54 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

into a small drift. Into this she flung the protesting 
girl, and the next instant was upon her, washing 
her face with the snow, and it is safe to say that 
no girl ever had her face so thoroughly washed be- 
fore. And the crowd of girls behind Billie cheered 
her on gleefully. 

There is no telling just how long Billie might have 
kept it up, for she was enjoying herself immensely, 
if Laura had not brought her to her senses. The 
latter leaned down, took a firm grip of the belt on 
Billie’s coat and jerked her to her feet. 

“Better let her go,” she warned. “We will have 
Miss Walters or one of the teachers out here in a 
minute. Come on, Billie. She’s had enough.” 

So Billie reluctantly stepped back while Amanda 
picked herself out of the snow, wiped her red and 
dripping face on her sleeve, and pushed through the 
laughing, mocking crowd of girls toward the school. 

She stopped just before she reached the door, 
however, and faced her tormentors, her face dis- 
torted with rage. 

“You think you’re smart, all of you!” she cried 
furiously, then added, as her eyes fell on Billie, who 
had drawn a handkerchief from her pocket and was 
wiping her hands carefully. “And you, Billie Brad- 
ley, standing there grinning! Some day I’ll make 
you grin out of the other side of your mouth. Just 
wait !” 

“Would you like your face washed again?” Billie 


Settling a Score 55 

demanded, darting forward threateningly. “Come 

on, let's get it over with ” 

But Amanda did not wait for the threat to be 
carried out. She scuttled precipitately into the Hall 
amid delighted giggles from the girls. 

Amanda, fairly choking with rage at the laughter, 
stopped and shook her fist in the direction of it. 
Then, with all sorts of plans in her heart for “get- 
ting even," she went on toward the dormitory. 


CHAPTER VIII 


JUST LIKE BILLIE! 

Several days followed during which the girls 
settled down earnestly to their studies. For scholar- 
ship was held very high at Three Towers Hall, ana 
any one who did not stand well in class was apt to 
find herself not only in ill favor with the teachers 
but with the students as well. 

The girls had reported to Miss Walters the re- 
sult of their visit to Polly Haddon, and the principal 
had seemed unusually interested and sympathetic. 

“Now that you girls have taken the Haddon fam- 
ily under your wing,” she had said, smiling at the 
chums, “I think we shall have to> see the thing 
through — at least until the mother is strong enough 
to begin work again. But in the meantime,” she 
had added, with a nod of the head that meant dis- 
missal, “I don’t want interest in the Haddon family 
to make my girls neglect their studies. I expect 
great things of you this year.” 

And so the girls, “feeling warm all over,” as 
they always did after a talk with Miss Walters, went 
back to their work, confident in the thought that the 
Haddons would not be left to starve, at least. 

56 


Just Like Billie! 57 

“Saturday we will go over ourselves and see how 
little Peter is,” said Billie, as, pencil in hand, she 
prepared to wade into a geometry problem. “Lis- 
ten, Laura,” she added, looking up at her friend 
hopefully, “if you will help me with this geometry 
I’ll coach you in history. Is it a go?” 

Laura declared it was a “go,” and so they settled 
down to work. But no amount of work could keep 
their thoughts from straying time and again to the 
Haddon family and the mystery of the stolen in- 
vention. 

As the girls who have read the former adventures 
of Billie Bradley already know, Billie and her chums 
had been admitted to the “Ghost Club,” a secret so- 
ciety to which only the most popular girls and those 
who stood highest in their studies were admitted. 

The membership had never exceeded fifteen, for 
the girls knew that to have too large a membership 
would only cheapen the club. Rose Belser was the 
president of it, and Connie Danvers and several 
other of the girls’ good friends were members. 
Caroline Brant had been asked to join long before, 
but had refused because she thought it would take 
too much time from her studies. 

Last year’s Commencement had taken two of the 
club’s members, so that now the girls were watching 
the freshmen for good material. They were very 
careful in choosing, however, for it was far easier 


58 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

to get members into the club than it was to get them 
out. 

The club was to have its first real meeting in two 
weeks, and it was at that meeting that the names of 
prospective members were to be tentatively sub- 
mitted to the president. After that, a period of close 
watching, and then — the fun of initiations. 

But first came news that ran through the Hall like 
wildfire. Some of the boys from Boxton Military 
Academy were coming over to the big hill behind 
the Three Towers Hall for the first real sledding of 
the year, and they had invited as many of the girls 
as they knew — and their friends — to meet them 
there. 

Chet and Teddy and Ferd were coming over, of 
course, and as the day approached, anticipation grew 
accordingly until the girls could think and talk of 
nothing but the fun they were going to have. 

“I wonder if Teddy will bring Paul Martinson 
with him,” said Vi, after trying vainly for half an 
hour to fix her mind on an essay she must hand in 
the next morning. ° ‘He’s ever so much fun, don't 
you think?” 

It was in Paul Martinson's motor boat, which he 
had named the Shelling in honor of Captain Shelling, 
who was master of the Military Academy, that the 
boys had visited the girls on Lighthouse Island the 
summer before. 

Paul Martinson was a splendid-looking, fine boy 


Just Like Billie! 59 

whom all the girls liked — Rose Belser, in particular 
— but who, himself, seemed to prefer Billie. Like 
Teddy, Paul thought that Billie was the “very best 
sport” he knew, and declared that “a fellow can 
have more fun with her any day than he can with 
another boy.” 

Of course Teddy did not like this a bit. Having 
known Billie practically all his life, he naturally felt 
that he should have first right to her. And so there 
was a good-natured rivalry between the boys that 
amused Billie and Vi and Laura and rather piqued 
Rose Belser and Connie Danvers and some of the 
other girls at the school, who thought that Billie 
had more than her share. 

“For,” as Connie declared once to a sympathetic 
group of girls, “it's ever so much more fun to be 
paddled around in a canoe by a boy than to have to 
paddle yourself, and it’s lots of fun to skate with 
them because they fairly haul you along. And here 
when we haven’t nearly enough to go around, Billie 
goes and takes two of the nicest ones. She’s a 
darling, of course, but I think she might be content 
with one !” 

And so when Vi had happened to mention in- 
nocently that Paul was ever so much fun, Rose 
Belser, who was preparing for a botany quiz at the 
other end of the room, looked up and made a face 
at her. 


60 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“How do we know whether he’s any fun or not ?” 
she said. “You had better ask Billie.” 

But Billie was too busy studying so that she might 
be free for the next day’s fun to hear, and Rose’s 
shot was lost. 

As though autumn had regretted giving way to 
winter so soon, it had been unexpectedly warm that 
day and the girls had worried for fear a thaw might 
spoil their sledding. But a cold wind rose in the 
night and the morning dawned clear and cold enough 
to suit even them. 

As soon as breakfast was over the coasters donned 
sweaters and caps and mufflers and ran down into 
the storeroom next the gymnasium to get their 
sleds. Then up once more and out into the bright 
morning sunshine, their cheeks glowing with health 
and their eyes sparkling with anticipation of the fun 
ahead of them! 

There were twenty-five of them in all, but as they 
filed out of the side door of the school they looked 
like a small army. 

“Isn’t it funny,” giggled Laura to Billie, “how 
many more of the girls turn out when they know 
the boys are going to be there?” 

“It’s sad but true,” admitted Billie, with an an- 
swering chuckle. “After that first heavy snowfall 
when we said something about an all-girls’ sledding 
party, they didn’t seem awfully anxious about it. 


Just Like Billie! 61 

Said it was too early in the season and they hated 
dragging sleds up the hill." 

‘‘Now I suppose they will expect the boys to do 
the dragging/' laughed Vi. 

When they had climbed almost to the top of the 
hill that made such a fine toboggan they heard the 
sound of boys' voices. 

“Goodness, they must have started before break- 
fast," said Connie Danvers, who was puffing with 
the effort to get her plump little body and her heavy 
sled up the steep incline. “Say, give me a lift, will 
you, Billie ? This hill is so slippery." 

“You mean that you’re getting too fat," said 
Laura wickedly, as she reached over and grabbed 
Connie’s line. “I told you you were eating too much 
candy." 

Billie reached the top of the hill first and with 
dancing eyes she looked down at the long, steep, ice- 
covered incline. The slight thaw of the day before 
had been the one thing needed to perfect the sledding. 
For the surface of the snow had melted, then frozen 
over again, forming a solid coat of ice. 

As she took this all in gleefully, the first of the 
boys emerged from the trees at the foot of the hill 
and an impish impulse seized her. 

With a shout of warning she pulled up her sled, 
flung herself upon it, gave a little push, and was off ! 
Down the hill she hurtled at a terrific rate of speed, 


62 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

the glaze of ice forming almost no resistance to her 
flight. 

Taken by surprise, the boys had no more than 
time to get out of the way before she literally 
dropped among them. 

She swung off to the right, where an abrupt rise 
of ice-covered ground checked her speed, and, after 
almost reaching the top of this small hill, the back 
runners of the sled were caught in the ice and she 
was tumbled head over heels, to land in an undigni- 
fied heap at the boys’ feet. 

Then she sat up, rubbed her head and smiled at 
them gleefully. 

“I went some that time, didn’t I ?” she said. 

“Yes, and you might have broken your neck, too,” 
said Teddy, in an awfully gruff voice, as he took 
both her hands and pulled her to her feet. The other 
boys were looking on in admiration at Billie’s feat. 
“Don’t you know you should never have taken that 
turn to the right? That hill’s too steep.” 

“I know it is — now ” said Billie ruefully, feeling 
for the first time the horrible suspicion that she had 
skinned her knee. 

“You should have taken one of these paths,” 
spoke up Chet, pushing his way through the crowd 
of boys and regarding Billie sternly, as an older 
brother should. “I thought you knew that.” 

“Of course I know that,” returned Billie, mimick- 
ing Chet’s tone to perfection. “But will you please 




Just Like Billie! 63 

tell me how I could take either one of the paths when 
both of them were chock full of boys?” 

The paths about which they spoke branched off 
from the foot of the hill. One had been an old 
wagon road which had become overgrown with 
bushes and stubble and the other was only a foot 
path. Nevertheless, either one was wide enough 
to permit easily a sled to pass through and the 
ground was level for a long enough distance to allow 
the sleds to come to an easy standstill. 

From the top of the hill the girls had been watch- 
ing Billie’s escapade, and now as she started with 
the boys up the long slope they looked at one an- 
other, smiling. 

“Goodness, there she goes again !” sighed Connie 
plaintively. “She isn’t satisfied with two of the 
boys any more. Now she has the whole crowd of 
them!”, 


CHAPTER IX 


INTO SPACE 

For a glorious hour the girls and boys enjoyed 
what was to them the best sledding of their lives. 
They coasted down the hill and dragged their sleds 
up again, shouting and calling to each other while 
their cheeks and, it must be admitted, sometimes 
their noses, too, glowed with the sting of the sharp 
wind and they had to stamp hard on the frozen 
ground to keep their toes from freezing. 

“The best sport ever !” cried Paul. 

“All to the merry,” came from Chet. “What do 
you say, girls?” and he turned to Billie and her 
classmates. 

What did they say ? All shouted at once that such 
fine sport couldn’t possibly be beaten. 

“Can’t be beat!” sang out Chet gaily. “Just like 
old Ma Jackson’s rag carpet.” 

“Ma Jackson’s rag carpet ? What do you mean?” 
asked Laura. 

“She couldn’t beat it for fear it would fall apart,” 
was the sly reply. And then the merry lad had to 
dodge a hard chunk of snow Laura threw at him. 

64 


Into Space 


65 


“Burr-r! isn’t it cold?” cried Billie, taking a mit- 
ten from one of her hands and blowing on her 
numbed fingers. “I’d never know what it was to 
feel cold if it weren’t for my fingers and toes. 
Teddy! Stop your pushing! What do you want 
now ?” 

For Teddy had seized her by the shoulders and 
had sat her firmly down upon his big bobsled. 

“You’ve let Paul Martinson take you down three 
times to my once,” he accused her, while he settled 
himself comfortably behind her on the sled. “And 
now it’s my turn. Hey, look out there, you fellows 
— we’re off!” 

And before the astonished Billie could do more 
than utter a giggling protest, they were indeed “off,” 
flying down the ice-glazed hill at a rate that took her 
breath away. 

“Some speed, eh?” chortled Teddy in her ear. 
“This old boat of mine has got ’em all beat. I bet 
we could race them all to a standstill.” 

“Why don’t we try?” Billie yelled back at him. 
“It would be lots of fun. Oh, Teddy, look out!” 
she shrieked, for they had reached the foot of the 
hill and Teddy had skimmed so close to the trunk of 
a tree that Billie afterward declared they had scraped 
off a piece of bark. 

“Don’t worry,” Teddy said, reassuringly. “Noth- 
ing’s going to happen to you when you’re with your 
uncle Ted.” 



66 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

At which remark Billie could not help giggling to 
herself. “Boys did think they were so awfully 
much !” Then suddenly she cried out : 

“Teddy, that’s the wrong path! We have never 
been down it before.” 

“That’s why I’m trying it,” said Teddy reck- 
lessly, as he swung down the strange path that ran 
at right angles to the one they were on. “The 
ground slopes, too, so we ought to have some more 
fun.” 

Billie said nothing. She would not for the life 
of her have Teddy guess that she was afraid. They 
had never been down that path before, because never 
before had a sled had momentum enough to carry it 
that far. 

And the ground was sloping more and more and 
the sled was going faster and faster with each sec- 
ond. The path was by no means straight, either, and 
if Teddy had not been pretty good at keeping his 
head they would most surely have run into some- 
thing and have had a nasty spill. 

“Oh, Teddy, can’t we stop?” asked Billie at last, 
unable to keep her fright all to herself. “We don’t 
know where this leads to. Can’t you stop, Teddy?” 

“Not very well,” answered the boy uneasily. “We 
will surely run on to level ground in a minute. 
Don’t worry.” 

But even as he spoke he jerked the sled around 
a sudden turn in the path and they came, apparently, 


Into Space 67 

to the end of the world. With a nasty little scraping 
sound the sled dived off into nothingness ! 

It all happened so suddenly that Billie did not 
have even time enough to scream. She had a sicken- 
ing feeling of falling through space, and then she 
struck something — something that yielded, luckily, 
under her weight, and she sank, down, down, down, 
coming to rest at last in a world where everything 
was white and slippery and cold — oh, so cold. 

She must have lost consciousness for a minute, 
for when she came to herself again in this strange 
new world she heard somebody calling her name 
wildly and a moment later Santa Claus poked his 
head over a snowbank and peered down at her. 

At least, she thought at first it was Santa Claus, 
because his face was so very red and the snow was 
clinging to his fuzzy cap in such a funny manner. 

But in a moment more she realized her mistake, 
for the red face and the funny hat disappeared and 
in their place were shoved two legs that she was 
very sure belonged to Teddy. And in a moment 
more Teddy himself slid down beside her. 

“Hello,” she greeted him with a smile. “I thought 
you were Santa Claus. Why weren’t you?” 

Teddy stared at her for a minute, anxiously. 

“I say,” he cried, taking one of her hands and 
rubbing it gently. “I guess that loop the loop of 
ours knocked you silly.” 

“I’m always silly,” was Billie’s amazing reply, as 


68 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

she sat up and began feeling herself all over care- 
fully. “But it certainly did knock me !” 

“Are you all right ?” demanded Teddy, watching 
her as she stretched out first one leg and then the 
other. “You didn't break anything, did you?” 

“Nothing but my dignity,” she answered, with a 
giggle that brought an answering grin from the boy. 
“Teddy,” she demanded, turning to him suddenly, 
“what did happen, anyway?” 

“I’m sure I don’t know, except that we came to 
the end of that path and jumped off,” answered 
Teddy, feeling gingerly of his forehead on which 
Billie could see that a large purple lump was begin- 
ning to swell. “If I had had a chance to see what 
was coming I could have rolled off the sled and 
pulled you with me. But that turn in the road 
brought us right on top of it. It’s a sort of preci- 
pice, I guess,” he went on to explain, while Billie 
eyed with sympathy the swelling lump on his fore- 
head. “It’s about fifteen feet high, I think, and if 
there hadn’t been snow on the ground we surely 
would have got hurt.” 

“If there hadn’t been snow on the ground, we 
wouldn’t have been sledding,” Billie pointed out, 
adding, so unexpectedly as to make Teddy jump: 
“Who hit you?” 

“Wh — what?” he gasped. Then seeing that her 
eyes were fixed on the bump that he was still finger- 
ing gingerly, Teddy’s face grew redder than it al- 


Into Space 69 

ready was, if such a thing were possible, and his 
hand fell quickly to his side. “Oh, that!” he said, 
loftily, as if it were nothing at all. “I guess the 
runner of the sled gave me a whack just as we 
dumped over. It doesn’t hurt, though. Not a bit.” 

“I bet it does, too,” said Billie, as the boy pulled 
his cap down tight over the tell-tale spot. “Where is 
the sled, Teddy?” she added. 

“Out there, somewhere, sticking in a drift,” an- 
swered the boy. “I didn’t have time to pull it out 
because I thought you had been killed or something 
and I had to come to look for you.” 

“Thanks,” she laughed at him. Then her face 
became suddenly serious, and she struggled to her 
feet, trying to brush off the snow that seemed to 
cover her from head to foot. “How are we going 
to get out of this, Teddy?” she asked, looking at 
him seriously. 

“Ask me an easy one,” he returned, his good- 
looking face extremely anxious and puzzled. “The 
snow is awfully deep, and I don’t believe we could 
ever get up to that path again. It would take us 
a couple of hours to go around, and besides, I’m not 
sure just how to go.” 

“In other words,” said Billie, trying her best to 
speak gayly while her heart sank at this unusually 
long speech of Teddy’s, “we’re lost, aren’t we?” 

“I guess it amounts to that,” Teddy answered 


70 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

soberly, and for a long minute they just stood star- 
ing at each other. 

Then Billie gave herself an impatient little shake. 

“Help me out of this,” she said, as she tried to 
push through the heavy snow that seemed to press 
in upon her from every side. “I’d like to have a 
look around, anyway.” 

She found that even with Teddy’s help it was 
no easy task to clamber out of the snowdrift that 
she had fallen into, and both she and the boy were 
panting with exertion when they had finally man- 
aged to get out into the open. 

Even there they stood up to their waists in the 
clinging snow, and Billie, looking desolately out 
over the white expanse, began to realize that she 
was very, very cold. 

“There’s the sled,” said Teddy, pointing to two 
runners sticking out of the snow and marking the 
spot where the sled had struck. “Wait here and 
I’ll get it ” 

Billie watched him as he struggled through the 
drifts, and suddenly she was aware of an over- 
whelming desire to sit down where she was and 
cry. 

“But that wouldn’t do any good,” she told her- 
self sharply, “even if this place does look more 
lonely than a desert. If we don’t get where it’s 
warm pretty soon we’ll turn into icicles ourselves, I 
guess.” 


Into Space 71 

The wind had become stronger and more biting, 
and Billie’s teeth had begun to chatter. She was 
glad when Teddy floundered back to her, the rope 
of his sled looped over one arm. He slipped the 
other arm through hers protectingly. 

“We’ll find a way out of this soon,” he said, com- 
fortingly. “You just watch your uncle Teddy.” 

Billie tried to laugh but she could not, her teeth 
were chattering so. 

“You said that before,” she told him hysterically. 
“And we — we — went over the cliff!” 


CHAPTER X 


THE CAVE 

The next minute Billie was sorry for what she 
had said. Teddy’s face clouded over and he looked 
at her unhappily. 

“You ought to know that I didn’t get you into this 
on purpose,” he muttered. 

“Oh, Teddy, d-dear, I didn’t mean it, you know 
I d-didn’t,” she stammered, trying hard to control 
the chattering of her teeth. “I’m a bad, mean, hor- 
rid girl. T-truly I didn’t mean it,” and she put her 
cold little hand penitently over his great big one. 

“I know you didn’t,” said Teddy, his face clear- 
ing instantly. “You’re cold and tired and all up- 
set. Poor little kid, I wish I could do all the 
feeling” 

“Well, I’m glad you can’t,” said Billie, snuggling 
up close to him for warmth. “For you have troubles 
enough of your own. Teddy !” She drew up sud- 
denly and stared at an object that caught her eye. 
“What is that thing over there that looks like a 
tangle of twigs and leaves? No, not that way. 
Over there — to the left.” 


72 


The Cave 


73 

Teddy followed the direction of her pointing fin- 
ger and his face lighted up with excitement. The 
“tangle of twigs and branches,” as Billie had de- 
scribed it, was close to the side of the fifteen-foot 
“precipice” over which he and Billie had plunged 
a little while before. 

The fact that the branches were not covered with 
snow certainly looked as if they had been put there 
rather recently in a crude effort to hide the entrance 
to something — perhaps a cave. 

“That’s worth having a look at,” he said, jerking 
the sled up to him and tightening his hold on Billie’s 
arm. “Can you make it, Billie? The snow seems 
to be deeper over this way.” 

“Oh, I can make it all right,” answered Billie, 
stoutly, as she clenched her teeth and shut her eyes 
and floundered on through the clinging snow. “I 
guess I’ve got to make it!” she added, to herself. 

They had almost reached their goal when suddenly 
they stepped into a hole hidden* by the snow* and 
sank down in the icy whiteness until Billie was 
almost up to her neck. 

“Gosh,” cried Teddy, as he struggled out to 
higher ground, pulling his thoroughly frightened 
companion after him, “I hope there aren’t many 
more places like that around here. We’ll make it 
all right, Billie. Say! you’re not crying, are you?” 
he broke off, with a boy’s utter terror of tears, as 


74 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Billie dug two mittened and numbed hands into her 
smarting eyes. 

“No, I’m not crying,” she answered, giving him 
a rather watery smile. “I’m laughing. Can’t you 
see I am?” 

“Poor little kid,” said Teddy for the second time 
that afternoon, and the sympathy in his voice pretty 
nearly did send Billie into a downpour of tears. 
She was so thoroughly miserable that it was all she 
could do to keep from wailing her grief aloud. But 
Teddy had put one big protecting arm around her 
now and was half carrying* her over to that strange 
object that looked so dark against the gleaming bank 
of snow. 

Then he let Billie go, and while she shivered by 
herself he laid hold of the branches and pulled with 
all his might. 

“Ooh, look out!” called Billie. “There might be 
a bomb or something at the other end. Oh-h!” 
The queer doorway gave so easily before the boy’s 
strength that he was sent staggering back against 
the snowdrift and sat down in it most uncom- 
fortably. 

The next minute he was up again, had swept the 
branches and twigs aside, and was examining the 
exposed opening with all a boy’s eager curiosity. 
Billie peered eagerly over his shoulder. 

“What is it?” she asked, breathlessly. 

“It’s what I thought it was — a cave,” answered 


The Cave 


75 

Teddy, joyfully. “Come inside, Billie. It will get 
you out of the wind anyway, and give you a chance 
to warm up.” He had put an arm about her again 
and was pushing her forward with his usual im- 
petuosity, but Billie hung back. 

“We don’t know what’s in there,” she protested, 
but Teddy refused to listen to her. 

“We don’t know and we don’t care,” he informed 
her, masterfully, adding as she still hung back: 
“We’ll freeze to death out there, anyway.” 

“But, Ted, suppose some wild animal should be 
in there? You know that bears hide in hollow trees 
and caves ” 

“Bears sleep most of the winter. Besides, I don’t 
think there are any bears around here.” 

“But there might be a — a fox, or a wildcat.” 

“I’ll take a chance on that. You must remember, 
the average wild beast will get out of your way if 
you give it half a chance. Come on. As I said be- 
fore, if you stay out here, in this icy wind, you’ll 
surely freeze to death.” 

This argument appealed to her, and, with a shiv- 
ering look over her shoulder at the desert of white- 
ness behind, she stepped gingerly into the blackness 
of the cave. 

Then with a little nervous giggle she ran back 
again, got behind Teddy and pushed him before 
her. 


76 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“Gentlemen first !” she said. “Anyway you're 
bigger than I am, Ted.” 

So Teddy, feeling as important as a boy always 
feels when he is protecting a girl that he likes, 
walked boldly into the cave, stretching a hand behind 
him for Billie to cling to. 

“Come on, it’s all right,” he assured her. “You’ll 
get used to the darkness in a minute. The snow 
blinds you. Ouch! What was that?” 

Billie gave a little choked scream and would have 
run out into the open again, had not Teddy’s grip 
on her hand prevented. 

“Don’t get scared,” the boy said, and bent over 
to examine whatever it was he had stubbed his toe 
against. “I didn’t mean to yell like that, but, gosh, 
that thing did give my toe an awful wallop ! I say, 
look at this!” and he held up an object that shone 
wanly white against the blackness of the cave. 

Billie, whose eyes had become a little accustomed 
to the darkness, saw that what Teddy held looked 
like an old, broken water pitcher. 

“A pitcher,” she said, adding disgustedly: “And 
that was what I was afraid of.” 

At the entrance, this queer hole in the mountain 
had been so low that the two had been forced to 
stoop down to avoid knocking their heads on the 
roof of it. But now, as they felt their way cau- 
tiously, they found to their surprise that they could 
stand upright. The walls also seemed to have 


The Cave 77 

widened out and they realized with a thrill of ex- 
citement that they were in a real cave, dug into the 
side of the mountain. 

In here it was darker than it had been at the 
entrance, and they had to feel their way about cau- 
tiously to avoid colliding with each other or the 
walls of the cave. 

It was surprisingly warm and snug in there also, 
for the thick snow wrapped them in the warmest 
and fleeciest of blankets, and the only place for old 
Jack Frost to come in was the narrow entrance of 
the cave. 

And once assured that the owner of the cave, 
whether man or animal, was at that moment not at 
home, Billie began to feel a sense of exquisite com- 
fort. Her teeth had ceased to chatter, they were safe 
from the bitter north wind, and she had Teddy to 
take care of her. What more could any girl want? 

As for Teddy, he had evidently found something 
over in one corner of the cave that interested him 
immensely. He had stumbled by accident over what 
seemed to be a pile of old junk, and now he was 
down on his hands and knees trying to satisfy his 
curiosity by the sense of touch. 

“Now aren’t I the idiot!” he exclaimed suddenly, 
and Billie started at the sudden sound of his voice 
in the darkness. “Here I go feeling around like a 
blind man when I have some perfectly good matches 


78 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

in my pocket. Come on over, Billie, and see what 
I’ve found.” 

Guided by the flare of a match, Billie made her 
way across the cave and kneeled down beside the 
boy. Then they both stared in utter amazement at 
what they saw. 

Heaped up carelessly in the corner was a mass of 
so many and such queerly assorted articles that it 
is no wonder the boy and girl were puzzled. 

There was an old alarm clock, rusty with age and 
disuse, a mirror, several gaudy articles of jewelry 
that looked as if they might have been found in ten- 
cent prize packages, a telephone receiver, a broken 
fishing rod that stood lamely against the wall as 
though ashamed of its own decrepit state, a sawdust 
doll, an empty tin can that evidently had once con- 
tained bait, a talcum powder box full of scented 
violet talc — Billie smelled it — and — -but it would 
take too long to name all the strange things that 
Billie and Teddy found there in the corner of the 
funny little cave. 

“Teddy,” murmured Billie as the boy’s match 
burnt out and he struck another one, “what do you 
think these things are for? Who do you suppose 
owns them ?” 

“How should I know?” asked Teddy, getting to 
his feet and looking eagerly about the place, illum- 
ined fitfully by the flare of the match. “Somebody 
comes here often, that’s a sure thing. And, judging 


The Cave 


79 

by those things,” he waved toward the conglomer- 
ation of junk in the corner, “he must be pretty 
simple.” 

“Oh, Teddy !” breathed Billie, moving closer to 
him. “Suppose he should come and find us here?” 

Teddy looked down at her with a grin. 

“Why worry ?” he asked. “Haven’t you got your 
Uncle Ted?” 

He had scarcely spoken when there came a ter- 
rifying sound. It was a snarl of rage, half-animal, 
half -human. 

The half-burned match dropped from Teddy’s 
fingers. They were in the dark. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE SIMPLETON 

Billie did not cry out. She was either too fright- 
ened or too brave. But the next minute Teddy’s arm 
had reached out and caught her to him reassuringly. 

“It’s all right,” he whispered in her ear. “Just 
hold tight and keep still. I’ll do the talking.” 

Cautiously he drew her to the back of the cave, 
and there they turned and waited for whatever was 
to happen. They did not have to wait long. 

Some one or something was coming into the cave. 
There was a growling and muttering in the tunnel- 
like entrance and the sounds increased as the in- 
truder came slowly nearer. 

Then there came a stumbling sound, followed by 
a coarse oath that made Billie clap her hands to her 
ears. 

“It’s a man, anyway,” Teddy whispered, adding 
maliciously : “Stubbed his toe on that old pitcher, I 
guess. Glad of it.” 

“Oh, Teddy, hush,” whispered Billie frantically. 
“He’ll hear you.” 

Evidently the intruder had heard them. He 
stopped short as though listening. Billie and Teddy 
So 


The Simpleton 8r 

could distinctly hear his heavy breathing while they 
held their own. 

Then a hoarse, strident voice challenged them. 

“Who are ye?” it cried, menacingly. “Whoever 
y’are ye’ve got to git out. I’ll teach ye to go breakin’ 
into my cave and meddlin’ with my things. Come 
out o’ thet, will ye?” 

For answer, Teddy lighted a match, holding it 
high above his head while he studied the intruder. 
The latter, evidently startled by the sudden light, 
staggered back a little and flung his hand before his 
eyes. 

The advantage was all Teddy’s, and for a moment 
it looked as though he would fling himself upon the 
little man who stood cowering there. But he hesi- 
tated, and while he hesitated the match burned out 
in his fingers and they were left in the dark once 
more. 

“Light another match, Teddy — quick,” whispered 
Billie, and he did. 

This time the man lowered his hands from before 
his eyes and stood blinking at them foolishly. He 
was so small and so slight and so puny looking in 
every way that the gruff voice with which he had 
greeted them in the beginning seemed little short of 
ridiculous. 

And while they stared at the little man and the 
little man stared at them, Teddy’s third match went 
out. 


8 2 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“Gosh,” said he, groping in his pocket for an- 
other. “I only hope they hold out, that’s all. I’d 
hate to be left in the dark.” 

He found a match and lit it rather shakily, for 
the whole thing was beginning to get on his nerves. 
And as the uncertain light flared out once more he 
saw that their queer new friend was holding some- 
thing out to him. 

“Don’t touch it,” whispered Billie at his elbow. 
“It might be ” 

“But it’s only a candle, Billie, and ” Teddy 

was beginning when the little fellow himself inter- 
rupted impatiently. 

“Light it, light it,” he commanded, glancing ner- 
vously over his shoulder into the spooky comers of 
the cave. “Your match will be burnt out and we 
will be left in the dark. The dark. I’m afraid of 
the dark. Hurry, hurry!” 

To Teddy and Billie at the same instant came the 
startling thought that the man was a lunatic. His 
looks, his voice, his manner, were all proof of it. 

And while Teddy lighted the candle with his one 
remaining match, Billie began to shiver wretchedly. 
If only they had not found the old cave everything 
would have been all right. They might even have 
been home by this time. For the moment she had 
forgotten how cold it was outside and that neither 
she nor Teddy knew the way home. 

While Teddy glanced about for some place to set 


The Simpleton 83 

the lighted candle, she furtively studied the simple- 
ton, into whose hiding-place they had been unlucky 
enough to stumble. 

He was about twenty-one, she guessed, scarcely 
more than a boy. His features were as small as his 
body, his eyes little and red-rimmed and shifty, with 
an expression of vacancy that made Billie’s blood 
run cold. His hair, as nearly as she could tell in 
the flickering light, was red. 

And while Billie watched him, he watched Teddy, 
and she was surprised to see his vacant eyes sud- 
denly fill with terror. Then, when Teddy turned 
back, after setting the candle on a projecting piece 
of rock, the simpleton came close to him, holding 
out shaking, imploring hands. 

“Have you come to take me away? Have you?” 
he asked wildly, and then as Teddy still continued 
to stare at him, he fell to the ground, groveling in 
the dirt at the boy’s feet. 

It was not a pretty sight, and with a little excla- 
mation of disgust, Teddy reached down, gripped the 
fellow’s collar and jerked him to his feet. 

“For heaven’s sake, get up,” he cried. “What’s 
the matter with you, anyway? I’m not going to 
hurt you.” 

“You haven’t come to take me away? You won’t 
put me in prison?” whined the simpleton, shaking 
and trembling there before them till Billie put her 
hands before her eyes to shut out the sight of him. 


84 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“I haven’t done anything! Truly I haven’t! Don’t 
put me in prison. Oh, I’m afraid of the dark. I’m 
afraid of the dark !” 

There is no telling how much longer he might 
have gone on in that manner had not Teddy put a 
hand over his mouth and shaken him into silence. 
Billie, cowering back against the wall, had begun 
to cry. 

“Now,” growled Teddy, giving one extra shake 
to the whining wretch, “suppose you keep still for 
a minute and try to understand what I am going to 
tell you. We didn’t come into your cave to get you, 
and we’re not going to hurt you if you will do what 
we tell you. We’re lost, and we want to get back 
to Three Towers Hall. Do you suppose you can 
tell us how?” 

The simpleton, relieved of his suspicion that they 
had come to do him harm, became suddenly sullen. 
Teddy had to repeat his question before the fellow 
answered. 

“I can,” he said then, “if I want to.” 

Teddy was about to answer angrily, but he re- 
membered that he had heard somewhere that the 
only way you can get anything out of a weak-minded 
person is to humor him. 

So he controlled his temper and said that he hoped 
very much that the fellow would want to — and the 
sooner the better, or words to that effect. 

“What’s your name?” asked Billie suddenly. It 


The Simpleton 85 

was the first time she had spoken, and both Teddy 
and the simpleton started. The latter stared at her 
a moment open-mouthed, and then his manner under- 
went a bewildering change — became softer, more 
normal. Evidently he had not noticed before that 
she was a girl, for she had been nearly hidden be- 
hind Teddy. 

“What’s your name?” asked Billie again. 

“Nick Budd, ma’am,” answered the fellow, never 
taking his eyes from Billie’s pretty face. “Son of 
Tim Budd, the gardener up at Three Towers Hall.” 

“Oh!” cried Billie delightedly, while Teddy him- 
self felt immensely relieved. “Then you will show 
us the way home, won’t you ? We’ll be ever so much 
obliged to you.” 

“Yes’m,” said the poor simpleton, shuffling" his 
feet as though embarrassed. “I’ll show you right 
away. But there’s a powerful lot o’ snow between 
us and the Hall,” he added, as he turned to leave 
the cave. 

Teddy started to take the candle to light them out, 
but the simpleton, as though he had eyes in the back 
of his head, turned upon Teddy furiously. 

“You let thet candle be,” he cried to* the aston- 
ished boy, while Billie shrank back in fresh alarm. 
“You let thet candle be, I tell you ! It’s my candle, 
ain’t it?” 

“Whew!” whistled Teddy, feeling a wild desire 
to shout, yet afraid to do it for fear of angering 


86 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

still more this poor idiot. “Yes, it’s your candle, old 
man. Be sure you take good care of it. It’s very 
precious/’ 

The simpleton stared at him suspiciously for a 
moment, then turned his back and led the way out 
of the cave. 

“Oh, Teddy, I’m scared to death,” whispered 
Billie, as the boy grabbed tight hold of her hand and 
started to follow Nick Budd. 

“You needn’t be,” he whispered back to her. “I 
could clean up that little shrimp with one finger.” 
Which observation, though extremely slangy, was 
very comforting to Billie. 

They found the sled outside where Teddy had 
dropped it when they entered the cave, and then there 
began a long, hard struggle with the snow and the 
wind that the boy and girl were to remember long 
afterward. 

They did not talk much, for they were too busy 
trying to keep up with Nick Budd as he floundered 
through the snow, and breath was precious. How- 
ever, Billie did find a chance to ask the question that 
had been looming bigger and bigger with each sec- 
ond. 

“Teddy, what do you suppose the boys and girls 
will think of our disappearing like that?” she asked 
him. 

“I suppose they’ll think we went off in an aero- 


The Simpleton 87 

plane or something,” he answered, trying to be funny 
and not succeeding very well. 

“Well,” sighed Billie, “I only hope they won’t go 
and say anything about it at school — not till we 
get back and have a chance to explain, anyway.” 
Teddy glanced at her quickly. 

“Nobody would be mean enough to do that,” he 
said, decidedly. 

“No-o, I guess not,” agreed Billie, but in her heart 
she was not at all sure. She was thinking of 
Amanda Peabody. 


CHAPTER XII 


THE ACCUSATION 

Nick Budd, plunging on in the snow ahead of 
the young folks, hardly once turned his head to look 
back. Evidently he had made this trip often and 
was used to wading through snow half-way to his 
waist, for he went so swiftly that Teddy was 
winded and Billie pretty nearly worn out when they 
at last reached the road. 

Oh, but what a relief it was to step out on its 
hard, crusty firmness after the yielding depth of 
the snow in the field ! 

Then Nick Budd turned and addressed them for 
the first time since they had left the cave behind 
them. 

“This here is the road thet leads to Three 
Towers,” he told them, evidently in a sullen mood 
again. “Jest foller straight and ye’ll git thar.” And 
before either Teddy or Billie had a chance to thank 
him he turned back without another word and 
started to retrace his steps through the heavy snow, 
leaving the two standing in the middle of the road 
staring after him. 

Then Billie turned wonderingly to the boy. 

88 


The Accusation 89 

“Teddy, isn’t he the queerest thing?” she 
breathed. 

Teddy nodded. 

“He sure is,” he said, soberly, adding slowly: 
“I’m just wondering what made him so afraid that 
we were going to put him in prison. He was scared 
almost to death until we told him why we had 
come.” 

“But he’s a simpleton,” Billie pointed out. “Poor 
thing, I don’t suppose you could count on anything 
he says or does. People who aren’t 'all there’ have 
moods, don’t they?” 

“Is that why you act so funny sometimes?” asked 
Teddy with a grin, and Billie pouted most becom- 
ingly. 

“I think you’re horrid,” she said, while Teddy’s 
grin became still wider. “Come on, let’s get back. 
I’m freezing to death. Don’t stand there grinning 
like an ape,” she commanded, with an impatient 
stamp of her foot. “You look silly.” 

“Like Nick Budd?” asked Teddy good-naturedly, 
and Billie had to smile. “Look here,” he added, 
jerking the sled toward him and motioning to Billie 
to sit on it. “We can get back much more quickly 
if you let me pull you. Get aboard, Miss Billie, and 
I’ll give you a regular sleighride.” 

“Oh fine !” cried Billie, as she settled herself com- 
fortably on the big sled. “Only I’m ’fraid its rather 
a long pull, Teddy. You may get tired.” 


go Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“Just watch me !” cried the boy, and galloped off 
at a great rate, the sled, with Billie clinging wildly 
to it, bumping and swaying over the hard and rough 
road. 

Meantime the other boys and girls had been con- 
siderably alarmed by Teddy’s and Billie’s abrupt 
disappearance. At first they had supposed that the 
two were simply playing a trick on them and would 
appear when they got good and ready. 

But as time passed and nothing happened they 
became worried, and even began to talk about a 
search party. 

“Though how they could have got lost, I don’t 
know,” Laura had said to an agitated group. “They 
certainly know their way about here well enough.” 

“Perhaps they got lost on purpose,” said a nasal 
voice, and Billie’s chums turned indignantly to face 
the speaker. It was Amanda, of course, and beside 
her, so close as to have earned her the title of Aman- 
da’s “Shadow,” stood her friend and crony, Eliza 
Dilks. 

Laura was about to retort furiously when Billie’s 
brother Chet pushed her aside and faced Amanda. 

“If you were a boy, I’d know what to do to you 
for saying a thing like that,” cried the boy, such fury 
in his face that Amanda was frightened. “But since 
you’re a girl I’ll just tell you to lay off that line of 
talk. Billie Bradley is my sister.” As Chet said 
the last words proudly there was many a girl pres- 


The Accusation 


9i 

ent who would have been glad to own a brother as 
loyal as Chet Bradley. 

As Amanda muttered something to herself and 
turned away angrily the boys and girls returned to 
the discussion of Billie’s and Teddy’s mysterious 
absence. 

“I think,” suggested Paul Martinson, his face 
looking extremely worried, ‘‘that we had better 
search through the woods thoroughly in case they 
are lost. Something must have happened to them 
to keep them away this long.” 

He had no sooner made the suggestion than it 
was carried into effect, and the girls and boys scat- 
tered through the woods in search of the two who 
had disappeared. 

They returned in a little while, however, dispirited 
and more anxious than ever. There was an attempt 
to go on with the fun in the hope that Teddy and 
Billie would return in a little while to laugh at their 
fears, but it was no use. The fun lagged, and finally 
the girls broke up the party altogether by declaring 
their intention of going back to the school. 

“Billie may be at the Hall now for all we know,” 
Connie said hopefully, as they started back along 
the road. “She may have been cold or something 
and asked Teddy to take her home.” 

“Humph,” sniffed Laura, “that sounds a lot like 
Billie.” 

Nevertheless they did hope that, foolish as it 


9 2 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

sounded, Billie had returned to the Hall before them. 
But when they reached there and found no sign of 
either her or Teddy they were puzzled and more 
worried than ever. 

The boys had gone on toward the Academy, and 
there was not one of them who was not disturbed 
in his mind. Teddy was as popular at the Academy 
as Billie was at the Hall, and, besides, Billie was a 
general favorite with all the lads. 

“I’ll wait a little while after I get back,” Chet 
told them as they tramped back silently, their sleds 
skidding along behind them, “and then I’ll call up 
the Hall. If Billie isn’t back by then we’ll have to 
notify the police — or something.” 

And at the Hall her classmates had decided to 
wait a little while also before they reported Billie’s 
disappearance to Miss Walters. 

Probably nothing serious had happened, they 
argued, and if Mis9 Walters were notified Billie 
might have a lot of explaining to do that otherwise 
she would be saved. 

But as the minutes sped by and still no sign of 
Billie, they fidgeted and squirmed and could set 
their minds to nothing. 

Then suddenly Connie Danvers rushed into the 
dormitory, her eyes blazing with wrath. 

‘‘What do you suppose?” she cried, while the 
girls gathered round her. “I met Caroline Brant in 
the hall just now and sKe said that Amanda and 


The Accusation 


93 

the ‘Shadow’ were spreading the report that Billie 
and Teddy ran away on purpose.” 

“Oh, the sneak! The v/retched little sneak!” 
cried Laura, making a dash for the door. But she 
stopped suddenly and ran back to Connie. “Has she 
gone to Miss Walters with that report?” she asked, 
her hands working as though she longed to get hold 
of Amanda. 

“I don’t think so,” replied Connie. “She hasn’t 
had time yet — Laura! where are you going?” for 
Laura had started for the door again. 

“To find Amanda, of course,” Laura cried over 
her shoulder, as she flung out of the room. “I’ll 
see that she doesn’t get to Miss Walters with that 
report.” 

“She has the right idea, girls,” said Vi excitedly. 
“We mustn’t let Amanda say such things about 
Billie. Why, if Miss Walters heard it, it would be 
dreadful.” 

“Come on then,” said Connie, adding recklessly: 
“We’ll see that Amanda doesn’t squeal if we have 
to gag her.” 

They found Amanda and her “Shadow” harangu- 
ing a group of the younger girls at the . end of the 
hall on the first floor. Billie’s champions, coming 
upon the group suddenly, overheard the last of 
Amanda’s speech. 

“Of course her friends say that she didn’t do it 
on purpose,” the girl was saying. “But I know 


94 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

she did, and I'm going straight to Miss Walters and 
tell her about it.” 

Laura started toward the sneak, but she drew 
back so suddenly as nearly to lose her balance and 
had to be steadied by the girls behind her. 

For a familiar figure, hidden until that moment 
by the shadows about the great entrance door, sud- 
denly swung into the light and faced Amanda. 

“Now, what you have said behind my back,” rang 
out a clear voice, “you can tell me to my face!” 

“It’s Billie,” gasped Laura, in joyful relief. “Say, 
but she looks good to me.” 

“Come on. I have a notion she may need a little 
help,” said Connie, as she made her way to Billie's 
side, causing the freshmen who had been Amanda's 
audience to scatter in panic. Laura and Vi and 
several others followed, but Billie did not seem to 
notice them. 

Her eyes were still upon Amanda. The latter, 
taken by surprise, at first looked about her for some 
means of escape. Then, seeing that she was cor- 
nered, she straightened up defiantly and the usual 
sneer overspread her mean features. 

“Oh, all right,” she said. “I'm not afraid to tell 
the truth if you are . Did you and Teddy Jordon 
have a good time when you ran away to-day?” 

“It's false!” cried Billie furiously. “And I'll 
make you take it back !” 

“What's this? What's this?” interrupted a cool 


The Accusation 95 

voice behind them, and Billie turned with tears of 
rage in her eyes to face Miss Arbuckle. 

“Miss Arbuckle,” she pleaded tensely, “make her 
take it back — what she said about me. It isn’t true 1 
Oh, it isn’t true!” 


CHAPTER XIII 


BILLIE IS CHOSEN 

Miss Arbuckle laid a kindly hand on Billie’s 
shoulder and looked at Amanda inquiringly. The 
latter was smiling triumphantly. Billie had done 
what she had hoped she would do. She, Amanda, 
would tell what in her mean little mind she really 
thought was the truth, and get Billie in bad with 
the powers-that-be. 

“What is this that you are telling about Beatrice, 
Amanda?” asked Miss Arbuckle, adding, impatient 
of Amanda’s grin : “Be quick about it.” 

“She and Teddy Jordon ran off together to-day 
and were gone for about three hours,” she said 
triumphantly. “Billie just came in.” 

Billie’s eyes, black in her white, set face, looked 
up at Miss Arbuckle steadily. 

“I didn’t do it, Miss Arbuckle,” she said, her lip 
quivering. “I — I couldn’t.” 

“I know you couldn’t, Billie Bradley,” said Miss 
Arbuckle, so unexpectedly that Amanda’s mouth 
dropped open from sheer surprise. “There must be 
some mistake.” 


96 


Billie is Chosen 


97 

“But they were away together for three hours,” 
Amanda repeated, angry at having this tempting 
morsel of revenge snatched away from her at the 
last minute. “I know it.” 

“That will do, Amanda,” said Miss Arbuckle 
sternly. “You have been guilty several times of 
starting stories about the girls that have had abso- 
lutely no foundation in truth. And I warn you that 
if you are caught again in this mischief it may mean 
serious trouble for you. 

“You say,” she added turning soberly to Billie, 
“that you and Teddy Jordon did not leave the other 
boys and girls this morning ?” 

“Oh, yes, we did,” said Billie, so eager to explain 
that her words tripped all over themselves. “Only 
we didn’t do it on purpose.” 

Miss Arbuckle looked grave and Amanda’s tri- 
umphant leer returned. 

“Please let me explain ” began poor Billie, 

but the teacher interrupted her. 

“Yes, I want you to,” she said. “Only not just 
now. Come to me to-morrow morning at nine, 
Billie. And I want you to be there also, Amanda. 
In the meantime,” she added to the latter, “you will 
make no mention of this affair in any way. Do you 
understand ?” 

Amanda nodded sullenly and at Miss Arbuckle’s 
command the small group of girls that had gath- 


98 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

ered dispersed to their various dormitories, talking 
excitedly of what had happened. 

Billie was too tired and cold and worn out with 
conflicting emotions to talk much at first. But 
under the tireless cross-questioning of the girls she 
gradually began to give them the story of her 
remarkable adventure. 

They were very much excited about Nick Budd 
and the cave, and declared that they must visit it 
and Billie must show them the way. 

But Billie, who was comfortably stretched out 
on her bed with Vi rubbing one half-frozen hand 
and Laura the other, absolutely denied that she 
would do anything of the sort. 

“It sounds very interesting now,” she said. “But 
I tell you I was scared to death while it lasted. I 
wouldn’t go back to that place for a million dollars. 
Oh, girls,” she added, stretching luxuriously, “you 
don’t know how heavenly it feels just to be where 
it’s warm.” 

“Didn’t Teddy keep you warm?” asked Rose 
Belser, wickedly, but just then the door opened and 
Amanda came into the room. Needless to say, 
Billie did not answer the question. 

Promptly at nine o’clock the next morning Billie 
went to Miss Ar buckle and told her the story of the 
yesterday’s adventure just as it had happened, and 
Miss Arbuckle, to Amanda’s immense disgust, 
believed her. A little talk by the teacher on the 


Billie is Chosen 


99 

wisdom of taking fewer chances in the future ended 
the interview to which Billie had been looking for- 
ward with not a little dread. And Amanda found 
herself once more facing the problem of how “to 
get even with Billie Bradley.” 

The girls talked and wondered about the queer 
little cave and simple Nick Budd, but as the days 
went on and they were whirled into a veritable 
maelstrom of quizzes and examinations, they gradu- 
ally forgot the incident. 

It seemed that the school work was to be unusu- 
ally interesting that year. There were the usual 
number of essays to be written, and for one Miss 
Walters had offered a prize to the girl turning in the 
best work. 

The title of the essay was “The World’s Greatest 
Generals,” and any girl in the school was entitled 
to try for it. There were other prizes offered, too, 
but Billie, whose mark in English was usually the 
highest in her class, thought that she would try for 
the composition prize. 

Laura and Connie and Rose Belser were going 
to enter the lists with her, but Vi and Nellie Bane 
decided to try for the highest mark in geometry. 

“Working for a prize makes the work seem more 
like a game,” said Connie as she happily looked up 
her “greatest generals.” “I’m as excited as if I 
were going to a party.” 

“Well, you’d better not get too excited,” advised 


ioo Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Vi, pulling a lock of her hair absently in order to 
solve a particularly steep problem in her beloved 
geometry. “Billie is sure to come off with the 
essay prize. ,, 

“Oh, she is, is she?” spoke up Rose, who had set 
her heart on the essay prize herself and who could 
never quite stifle her former jealousy of Billie. 
“Well, maybe she is, but I’m going to give her a 
run for her money just the same.” 

“Good!” cried Billie, looking up from her book 
and smiling sunnily at Rose. “That’s the kind of 
game I like to play.” 

“And how about us?” said Laura, smiling rue- 
fully over at fluffy-haired Connie. “We don’t seem 
to be in this at all.” 

Besides their studies, the girls had the Ghost Club 
to think about and the importance of initiating new 
members. They had decided upon two of the fresh- 
men for the honor, one, a fair-haired intelligent 
girl named Ann Fleming and the second a laughing 
imp of a girl with red hair and red-brown eyes who 
bore the name of Ada Slope. 

Both girls stood well in their studies and showed 
a remarkable popularity among their classmates 
considering the short time they had been at the Hall. 

And of course they were overwhelmed with joy 
when Billie drew them aside one day and ordered 
them to be in the gymnasium at not later than nine 
o’clock that night. 


IOI 


Billie is Chosen 

They were there before nine, shivering in the 
darkness of the big gymnasium and wishing that 
this fearful business of being initiated were over 
and done with. 

A few minutes later the “ghosts” arrived and put 
the girls through a series of trials that tested their 
courage and endurance to the limit. 

They were made to “walk the plank” blindfolded; 
they were prepared for “branding with a red-hot 
poker” and then touched with a lump of ice that 
made them cry out in imagined pain; they were 
handed all sorts of slimy things, harmless in them- 
selves but terrifying to the overstrained nerves of 
the girls. 

But they came out of the test with flying colors, 
and the members of the club were well satisfied with 
their choice. 

“And now,” said Rose Belser — who was still 
president of the club — as the handkerchiefs were 
removed from the eyes of the new members, “we are 
about to put to the test a new rule suggested by a 
fellow ghost.” 

The girls held their breath, for the announcement 
was a surprise to all but Billie, who had herself made 
the suggestion. 

“It occurred to this fellow-member of our illus- 
trious club,” Rose went on in a deep voice, looking 
very weird and ghostly in her long white ceremo- 
nial robe, with only slits cut in it for the eyes and 


102 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

nose and mouth, “that it is only fair to the new 
members who have stood the test, to suggest some 
difficult feat for one of the old members to per- 
form — this person to be chosen by the new members 
of the club.” 

The girls were silent for a moment, sitting there 
like so many actual ghosts in their white robes, and 
they thrilled with excitement as they realized the 
possibilities of the new rule if it should be accepted. 

It was fair, for it would give the girls who had 
gone through the hazing a chance to “get even,” 
and it would also be lots of fun for themselves. 
So when Rose called in a sepulchral voice for a vote, 
there was a unanimous cry of “aye.” 

Billie smiled under her white mask gleefully. She 
had known that the girls would be good sports. 

“The suggestion has been unanimously accepted,” 
Rose rumbled on in the deep voice she adopted for 
such occasions. “Fellow ghosts, we will now with- 
draw and give our fellow members a chance to con- 
sult upon this important topic.” 

“You don’t have to withdraw,” cried red-haired 
Ada Slope, with a giggle that she could not entirely 
suppress, despite the “seriousness of the occasion.” 
“I’ll give a nickel to any girl who will climb up into 
tower number three with only a candle to see by.” 

“And I’ll give a dime,” said Ann Fleming decid- 
edly. 

A ripple of very human laughter ran through 


Billie is Chosen 


103 

the ghosts, and Rose had to demand order three 
times before she was obeyed. 

“Very well,” she said then. “Our new members 
have decided. It now remains for them to select 
one among our number to do this mighty deed. 
Advance, new members of the Ghost Club! 
Choose !” 

Ann Fleming put out her hand and touched one 
white-robed figure. 

“I choose this one,” she said. 

“ Tis done!” cried Ada Slope, dramatically. 

Oh, poetic justice! For the chosen one was 
Billie! 


CHAPTER XIV 


A BLOOD-STAINED HANDKERCHIEF 

The next problem was to find the candle for the 
“ghost” to carry up to the gloomy heights of tower 
number three. Ada Slope, little minx that she was, 
had chosen this particular one of the three towers 
for which the Hall was named, because of a legend 
among the girls, starting from goodness knows 
where, that this tower was haunted. 

Now Billie was not by any means a coward, and 
she had proved by her behavior in the spooky old 
mansion at Cherry Corners that she was not inclined 
to belief in or fear of ghosts. 

Yet when Ada Slope ran hastily up to her room 
and returned bearing a tiny Christmas candle, which 
was all that Billie was to have to accompany her 
on her perilous journey, it must be admitted that her 
heart began to beat a little faster and she was guilty 
for a moment of wishing that Ada Slope had picked 
on any other girl but herself. 

However, she acted so perfectly that there was 
not one of her chums but who thought that she was 
delighted at the chance to explore the gloomy old 
tower — with one little candle for company! 

104 


A Blood-Stained Handkerchief 105 

“Suppose — ” she thought to herself as Laura 
lighted the candle for her — or at least she thought 
it was Laura; they all looked pretty much alike in 
their ghostly robes — “suppose it should go out when 
I reach the top of the tower and I should have to 
find my way back in the dark !” 

“Courage,” Rose Belser cried, as she pushed 
Billie toward the door, thie candle flickering in her 
hand. “There are those who say that tower number 
three is haunted. But let me remind you, friend, 
that a ghost is never afraid of a ghost. Fare- 
well!” 

This was not a very encouraging speech, though 
Billie could not help giggling about it as she climbed 
the back stairs to the first floor. 

The house was as still as death, for it was after 
ten o'clock now, and everybody, even Miss Walters, 
seemed to be in bed. 

Billie almost ran up the second and third flights, 
stumbling over her white robe and shielding the 
flickering candle with her hand for fear it would 
go out. 

When she reached the fourth floor, which was 
really the attic, she went more slowly, for the place 
was dark and “spooky” — so she said — and the noise 
of her footsteps frightened her. The tiny light of 
her candle seemed to make the shadowy corners of 
the place all the more startlingly black. 

Once she thought she heard a noise and stopped 


106 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

short, her heart beating suffocatingly in her throat. 
But it was only the wind sighing drearily around 
the place, and she went on again, more slowly now, 
starting at every real or imaginary sound. 

The stairway that led to the third tower was at 
the very end of the long attic, and as she came near 
to it Billie’s courage almost failed her. It seemed 
to her that something sinister and terrible was 
closing in around her, and she pressed her hand 
against her mouth to keep from screaming. 

She could see the dim outline of the stairway 
right before her, but she was afraid to go forward 
— and she dared not go back. 

What would the girls say if she went back to them 
and confessed that she had been too cowardly to 
stand the test? She would be disgraced forever in 
the eyes of her chums, her reputation for daring and 
bravery would be gone, she might even be asked to 
resign from the Ghost Club. 

For a long minute she stood there, fighting the 
desire to rush back to friends and human compan- 
ionship. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, she 
forced herself to approach the stairs. 

With every step she stopped and listened, glancing 
about her fearfully. But nothing save the sound 
of her own rapid breathing broke the musty, heavy 
silence of the place. 

“I must go on, I must go on !” she kept telling her- 


A Blood-Stained Handkerchief 107 

self over and over again. “To the very top of the 
tower — to the top of the tower ” 

What was that? 

A rattling, a scurrying, a scratching of tiny feet 
across the floor. Billie screamed, but stifled the 
sound half way by stuffing a handkerchief into her 
mouth. Her eyes were wide with terror, her hair 
began to stand on end, and with a little moan she 
made a rush for the stairs up which she had come 
a minute before. 

She had almost reached them when by the light 
of her candle she saw something running across the 
floor. It was a mouse. Weakly she leaned against 
the wall, trying to summon what remained of her 
courage. 

“They’re only mice, silly — they can’t hurt you,” 
she told herself, while her hand shook so that she 
could scarcely hold the candle. Then a sudden 
thought made her start back for the tower stairs 
almost on a run. The candle was burning low. 
She must hurry or she would be left in the dark. 
Just a quick dive up the stairs to the tower room and 
the deed would be done. She could go back then, 
to friends and lights and adulation. For she would 
be able to tell them proudly that she had done what 
no other girl had dared to do — climbed to the top 
of tower three. 

With such thoughts she bolstered up her courage 
and ran swiftly up the stairs. But the “swish” of 


108 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

her garments in that silent place frightened her and 
she stopped before she had quite reached the top. 
She listened intently. 

Was it imagination, or had she really heard that 
eerie whisper in her ear, felt the soft brushing of a 
dress against hers? Of course it was only imagina- 
tion. She mustn’t think such things or she could 
never climb to the top of those hateful stairs. She 
must go on and on — to the top — the very top — 
Again that scurrying and squealing as she disturbed 
another nest of mice. She grasped the banister 
frantically to steady herself. 

She must go up' — up Finally she had reached 

the top of the stairs, and for one joyful minute she 
thought that she had climbed to the top of the tower. 
She could go back again to the girls — she had turned 
toward the stairs when her eye fell on an object that 
made her breath catch in her throat. 

Revealed by the uncertain flare of the candle was 
a ladder, leading apparently to some room above. 
Of course, that must be the tower room. Then she 
still had some climbing to do before her task was 
finished. 

Billie’s heart sank as she approached the ladder, 
stumbling over bits of junk and rubbish that littered 
the floor. She must hurry, too, for the candle was 
burning down and she must not be left in the dark 
in that place. She would go crazy — or something. 

Outside the wind was rising, and it wailed around 


A Blood-Stained Handkerchief 109 

the corners of the old building with an unspeakably 
weird and mournful sound that filled Billie with a 
dreadful premonition of evil. 

She really felt, as she hesitated at the foot of the 
ladder, that she must get back to the girls or she 
would go mad. Her knees were trembling so that 
she was afraid she could never climb the ladder to 
the top. 

But she must do it or go back to the girls dis- 
graced. < 

One hand grasped the rung above her head while 
the other held aloft the flickering candle and she 
began the difficult climb, hampered by the long *white 
robe that clung like something alive about her 
ankles and by the necessity of holding the candle. 

Four rungs, five rungs, six rungs — was the ladder 
a mile long? she wondered, while the wind wailed 
still more dismally about the house. 

Then at last she reached the top. Her candle 
showed a small door not more than four feet high — 
the door to the tower room. 

Her hand felt for the knob. She grasped it. 
The door was locked. To make sure, Billie gave 
the door a vigorous shake, and as it did so some- 
thing white and soft fluttered to her feet and fell on 
the top rung of the ladder. 

For a minute Billie felt faint and dizzy, and she 
had to cling to the ladder desperately to keep from 
falling. 


no Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

The next moment she saw that what had fright- 
ened her was only a handkerchief, and she stooped 
to pick it up. It was old and stained. What was 
that stain upon it? 

She brought the little square of linen closer to her 
eyes and then with a stifled scream she flung it from 
her while the candle fell from her nerveless fingers 
and went out, leaving her in the dark. 

The stain on the handkerchief was blood! 

Billie never remembers to this day how she got 
out of that awful place. Someway she half fell, 
half scrambled down the ladder, stumbled and fell 
and stumbled again in her mad rush across the pitch- 
black attic to the head of the stairs. 

Then down, down, down, a countless number of 
stairs that came up and hit her in the face — down, 
down to the gymnasium where thousands of ghostly 
figures rushed at her 

“Oh, what could have happened to have fright- 
ened her so?” she heard a voice saying from a long, 
long distance, and she opened her eyes to find 
Laura’s white face bending anxiously over her while 
other white-faced girls stared at her pityingly. 

She struggled to her feet, but her knees wavered 
so that she sat down again quite suddenly. 

“What’s the matter with you all ?” she asked, then 
as the memory of what had happened came back to 
her in a flood she shuddered and instinctively she 


A Blood-Stained Handkerchief in 


looked down at her hands to see if they still held 
that piece of linen with the stains upon it. 

“Oh, I remember,” she murmured, as though 
talking to herself. The girls were watching her 
anxiously. “I threw it away.” 

“What, honey?” asked Laura gently. 

“The blood-stained handkerchief!” 


CHAPTER XV 


A DISCOVERY 

It took the other girls some time to get the whole 
story from Billie, but when she had stammered it 
out to them they broke into a babel of excited 
exclamations that threatened to bring one of the 
teachers to their hiding place. 

It was Billie herself who thought of this danger 
and who finally managed to calm them down a 
little. 

“Not so loud,” she entreated, still feeling faint 
and shaky from her experience. “You know what 
will happen if somebody finds us here.” 

“But Billie,” protested Laura, though her voice 
sank to a more cautious whisper, “we’ve got to do 
something about it, you know. There may have 
been a murder or something up there.” 

“Perhaps we’d better all go back with Billie and 
try to get into that little room at the head of the 
ladder,” suggested one of the girls, but the mere 
idea made Billie shudder. 

“You can go,” she said decidedly. “But I’m 
through for to-night.” 

1 12 


A Discovery 113 

“Oh, well, if you won’t go,” said the girl deject- 
edly, “it’s all off, of course. We need a guide ” 

“I don’t see why,” protested Billie. “Nobody 
gave me a guide.” 

“No. And it was a shame to send you away up 
there all alone,” said Vi, putting a protecting arm 
about her. “It’s a wonder you didn’t die of fright.” 

“I suppose,” said Ann Fleming, thoughtfully, 
“we might tell one of the teachers about it — or 
Miss Walters, perhaps — and she could go with us 
up to the tower ” 

“Say,” interrupted Rose Belser with her most 
pronounced drawl, as she looked contemptuously 
upon the freshman who had proposed so foolish a 
thing, “it’s easy to see you haven’t been at Three 
Towers long, Ann. Now just what do you suppose 
would happen if we told Miss Walters that we were 
up after hours initiating and doing stunts ?” 

“I — I didn’t think of that,” stammered Ann, 
completely crushed. 

“I thought you didn’t,” answered Rose dryly. 

For some time afterward the girls discussed in 
awed whispers the startling thing that had happened, 
and then somebody suddenly conceived the idea that 
it would not be a bad thing to go to bed. 

Billie was looking very white and shaky after her 
ordeal. Then, too, it was getting late, and there 
was always the chance of discovery by some “over- 
curious teacher.” 


1 14 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“But I’ll never, never, sleep a wink,” said Vi, as 
they filed ghost-like out of the gymnasium. “I know 
I’ll be dreaming of blood-stained handkerchiefs all 
night long.” 

“And I don’t think it’s fair,” pouted Connie, 
“for Billie to have all the adventures. First she gets 
lost with Teddy and discovers a perfectly good cave, 
and then she unearths a thrilling mystery, like this. 
Too much good luck for one person.” 

“Good luck!” repeated Billie ruefully. “Well, if 
you call that good luck, I certainly would hate to 
be the one to find out what bad luck is.” 

“Hush,” ordered Rose, once more assuming the 
deep voice of the head of the ghosts. “Some one 
may hear you and we’ll all be shot at sunrise.” 

“I never get up that early,” giggled Laura. 

Many and varied were the plans the girls made 
for a storming of tower number three in the hope 
of solving the mystery of that little locked door and 
the blood-stained handkerchief. However, there 
seemed to be so many obstacles in the way of carry- 
ing out these plans that they reluctantly decided to 
give up the idea, at least for the time being. 

“And, anyway,” Laura had said in one of their 
discussions, “the blood stains on that handkerchief 
might not have meant anything mysterious at all. 
Maybe somebody had a nose-bleed.” 

“How romantic!” drawled Rose while the other 
girls giggled at the idea. 


A Discovery 115 

Their studies and the race for prizes absorbed 
the classmates in the days that followed and gradu- 
ally the mystery, if indeed it was a mystery, faded 
from their minds. 

Billie worked hard, and thought she was getting 
along finely. She commenced to grow a trifle pale, 
and at this Vi and Laura shook their heads. 

“Don’t overdo it, Billie,” said Vi. 

“No kind of prize is worth one’s health,” added 
Laura. 

“Don’t worry about me,” declared Billie, with a 
smile. “I know what you want to do — make me 
let up so you can pass me.” 

“Oh, you know better than that !” cried Laura. 

“Of course she does,” came from Vi. “Now re- 
member, don’t study so hard that you get sick.” 

“No danger,” retorted Billie airily. 

It was nearly a week later when Billie suddenly 
realized that there was another thing they had 
almost forgotten, and that was Polly Haddon and 
her unhappy little family. 

“And poor little Peter!” said Vi penitently, when 
Billie spoke to her about it. “He must be either 
better or dead by this time.” 

“Suppose we go over to-morrow” — the next day 
being Saturday — Laura suggested. “We can walk 
to town first. Or maybe we can get Tim Budd to 
drive us over in the wagon. We can get some good 


Ii6 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

canned stuff, soups and things, and take them over 
to the Haddons when we go.” 

The next day the girls sought out Tim Budd, who 
was the gardener at the Hall and who was also, alas ! 
the father of poor, simple Nick Budd with whom 
Teddy and Billie had had so queer an experience. 
After a great deal of coaxing, they succeeded in get- 
ting the gardener to take them to town in the carry- 
all. From this it may be seen that Tim acted as 
chauffeur also upon occasion. 

They were in hilarious spirits all the way to the 
town and back again, and it was not until they had 
almost reached Three Towers that Vi made a sug- 
gestion that somehow clouded their faces. 

“Suppose she won’t accept these things?” she 
said, giving the well-stocked basket at her feet a 
little shove. “You said yourself she was awfully 
proud, Billie.” 

Billie looked sober for a moment, but Laura, as 
ever, found something to laugh at. 

“Why worry about that?” said the incorrigible 
one, gaily. “If she doesn’t want ’em we’ll have a 
midnight feast and use them ourselves.” 

Tim Budd let them out at the Hall and they 
walked the rest of the way to the little cottage. 
Mrs. Haddon herself opened the door, but she 
looked so pale and wan that they hardly recognized 
her. 

The woman welcomed the girls absently, as if 


A Discovery 117 

her mind were a great way off, but when her eyes 
fell on the basket a resigned little smile played about 
her lips. 

“More charity,” she muttered, as though to her- 
self. “Well, I will take it because I must. But I’ll 
pay it back.” She turned proudly upon the girls 
and her fine eyes flashed. “No one can say of 
Polly Haddon that she left her debts unpaid.” 

Taken aback by this unexpected declaration, the 
girls said nothing, but shifted their feet uneasily, 
wishing fervently that Polly Haddon would turn the 
fire of her black eyes on something else. 

But almost instantly the woman’s mood became 
softer, and, seeing the girls’ embarrassment, she 
tried to put them at their ease. 

“Thank you so much,” she said. “Won’t you sit 
down? The basket is heavy and you have come a 
long way.” 

The girls, not knowing what else to do, sat down 
on the three spindly chairs awkwardly enough, and 
Laura and Vi sent distress signals Billie-wards. 
For Billie was always their spokesman. 

So Billie, who had been as much abashed as any 
of them at their rather queer reception, found her 
tongue with difficulty and asked Mrs. Haddon how 
Peter was. 

“He is dreadfully low,” Mrs. Haddon answered 
softly. Her head drooped wearily and her hands 
were crossed listlessly in front of her. “The doctor 


n8 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

says it is not even an even chance whether he lives 
or dies.” 

The girls murmured their very real sympathy, 
and Billie started to ask another question when the 
door at the other end of the room opened and the 
two little girls, Mary and Isabel, entered. 

At sight of the visitors they looked startled and 
started to retreat, but their mother called to them. 

“Come here,” she said, and the children sidled 
slowly up to her where they stood, their large eyes 
fixed shyly on the girls. “Don’t you know these 
young ladies?” asked the mother, putting an arm 
about each of the poor little thin things caressingly 
and drawing them up close to her. “They are the 
ones who brought you home that day that you were 
naughty and ran away, and they have been very kind 
to us since.” 

There was a slight sound from the room beyond 
where poor little Peter lay so desperately ill, and 
Mrs. Haddon rose suddenly, leaving the two little 
girls and the three big girls together. 

It would have been hard to tell at first who was 
the most embarrassed. But as no children had ever 
been known to resist Billie for very long, the two 
little Haddons were soon won over and chatted to 
the three big girls in careless, innocent child fashion. 

“We get good things to eat now,” said Isabel, 
confidentially, speaking of the thing that loomed 
biggest and most important in her starved little life. 


A Discovery 119 

“A man comes almost every night with a basket — 
just like this,” and she eyed the basket which the 
girls had brought with hungry eyes. 

“Yes, an’ he’s a funny little man, too,” added 
Mary, her big eyes round with eagerness. “He has 
whiskers and he stoops — dreadful.” 

A glance of understanding passed between the 
chums. 

“That description •” Vi began. 

“Suits Tim Budd added Laura. 

“To a T,” finished Billie. 


CHAPTER XVI 


CHRISTMAS CHEER 

So Miss Walters was seeing to it that Polly 
Haddon received food regularly — “almost every 
night!” Of course Miss Walters had promised to 
look out for the family, but the girls had hardly 
expected her to be so generous. 

And while they were still turning the revelation 
over wonderingly in their minds, Polly Haddon 
called to them softly from the other room. 

It was a bare little room into which they stepped 
— barer and poorer than even they had imagined. 
And in the midst of a little iron bed lay Peter, so 
pathetically white and emaciated that it tore their 
hearts to look at him. 

“Is he very bad ?” asked Billie, turning to weary- 
eyed Polly Haddon. 

“The doctor says he almost surely will die,” 
answered the latter in a toneless voice. “He has 
just one chance out of a hundred.” 

And as though speaking the doctor’s name had 
brought him there, the big man himself entered at 
that moment and the girls took that opportunity to 
say good-bye. 


120 


Christmas Cheer 


121 


“Poor little Peter,” sighed Billie, as they walked 
slowly homeward. “I suppose if he dies poor Mrs. 
Haddon will nearly die too.” 

“I wish there was something we could do,” said 
Vi, frowning. 

“I don’t know what more we could do than we 
have done,” said Laura gloomily. 

“Except,” said Billie thoughtfully, her eyes fixed 
on the far horizon, “find that invention of hers. 
I imagine that would make her so happy that she 
might even persuade poor little Peter to live.” 

“Good gracious!” cried Laura, throwing up her 
hands in a despairing gesture. “She’s raving again, 
girls, she’s raving again!” 

Billie laughed, but her eyes were still very though- 
ful. 

But the holiday season was upon them and it 
was impossible for the girls to be gloomy or unhappy 
for very long. They wished with all their hearts 
that Polly Haddon and her pathetic little brood 
might be made happy and prosperous once more, 
but even while they were wishing they could not 
shake off the exultant thought that Christmas was 
coming. And Christmas to most of them meant 
home and family and turkeys and cranberry sayce 
and presents — oh, oodles of presents! 

“No holiday quite as good as good old Christ- 
mas,” observed Laura, gaily, as she danced around 


1 22 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

with a package she had just been doing up in a red 
ribbon. 

“I’m with you on that,” declared Billie. “Oh, 
do you know, sometimes I can hardly wait until 
Christmas comes !” 

“But you’ll wait just the same,” drawled Vi. 
“We all will.” 

“It’s waiting that makes it worth while,” de- 
clared Billie. “It’s like the small boy and the circus. 
Tell him in the morning that you will take him in 
the afternoon and it doesn’t amount to much. But 
tell him a month ahead and he’ll get a whole month’s 
fun out of it before it comes off.” 

“All right, Billie, I’ll tell you a secret,” whispered 
Vi, with a twinkle in her eyes. “About a year from 
now we’ll have another Christmas. Now is your 
time to start thinking about it.” And then there 
were giggles all around. 

“I’ll wait for one Christmas to be over before I 
think of the next,” declared Billie. 

Billie had asked Connie Danvers to come home 
with her for over the holidays, but Connie, after 
writing eagerly home for permission, had had to 
refuse the invitation. Mrs. Danvers thanked Mrs. 
Bradley and Billie, but there was to be a big reunion 
of the Danvers family that Christmas and they had 
all counted on having Connie with them. If Billie 
could come home with Connie for Christmas — but 


Christmas Cheer 123 

here Billie shook her head decidedly, though the 
invitation was an enticing one. She knew that her 
mother would certainly want her at home for the 
most wonderful day in all the year. 

And so when the time came, the classmates went 
their several ways after many fond embraces had 
been exchanged — to say nothing of various myste- 
rious little green- and red-ribboned parcels. 

The Christmas spirit is a wonderful thing, intan- 
gible, yet so real that even the most hardened old 
reprobate will thrill to the magic of it. And as these 
girls were neither hardened nor reprobates, they 
were kept in a continual state of excitement and joy- 
ful anticipation for two whole weeks before the 
great day arrived. 

Ever since the opening of Three Towers Hall in 
the fall, the girls had used their spare moments to 
sew on little mysterious things which were imme- 
diately hidden upon the arrival of any of their fel- 
low students, and now these same pieces of needle- 
work began to blossom forth in gay be-ribboned 
boxes that passed between the girls in a continual 
stream. 

Sometimes one would be found between the sheets 
of a girl’s bed when she jumped in at night and the 
touch of it would elicit a muffled shriek, to be fol- 
lowed by hysterical giggles when the gift was pulled 
from its hiding place and disclosed in all its glory to 
be admired and exclaimed over by the girls who had 


124 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

not been lucky enough to bark their shins on gifts 
of their own. 

And sometimes another be-ribboned parcel would 
find its way into the stocking of a lucky maiden 
while she slept or be discovered in an out-of-the-way 
corner of her desk, nearly covered by books and 
papers. 

And as the time drew still nearer, even interest 
in their studies flagged, and the teachers, wisely 
forbearing to force them, entered into the fun them- 
selves, knowing that one could not study much while 
the Christmas cheer was in the air. 

The girls had fondly hoped that Teddy and Chet 
and Ferd would be able to make the return trip 
with them, but as Boxton Academy did not close 
for the holidays until the day after the official clos- 
ing of Three Towers, the girls were forced to give 
up the idea. 

“Oh, well,” Billie said resignedly, “as long as they 
get there for Christmas it will be time enough.” 

The day of release came at last and found the 
three North Bend girls doing a two-step of impa- 
tience on the station platform, waiting for the train, 
which was already half an hour late. 

“Goodness, but your bag looks stuffed, Billie,” 
remarked Laura, stopping before Billie's big suitcase 
whose bulging sides did look as though they might 
burst at any moment and disgorge the contents. 

“It has twenty presents in it,” confided Billie, 


Christmas Cheer 


125 

surveying her fat property with a loving eye. “I 
only hope it holds out till we get home, that’s all I’' 

Then the train puffed around the bend and slowed 
up to the station. And several hours later three very 
much flushed, very much excited, and very pretty 
young girls popped off the train at North Bend and 
straight into the arms of their doting families. 

“Merry Christmas!’’ they cried to every one in 
general and no one in particular. “Merry Christ- 
mas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Oh, 
isn’t it glorious to be at home!” 

The boys arrived the next day, and they all had a 
great reunion at Billie’s home, where they exchanged 
presents and talked in hushed tones of what they 
hoped that Santa Claus would bring them — to- 
morrow! For this was Christmas Eve! 

But the party broke up soon, and they all went 
to bed early so that they could get up at six o’clock 
the next morning — at the very latest. 

Oh, the fun of anticipating and the joy of Christ- 
mas Day. First of all, the bulging stocking with 
its lumps of coal and pieces of carefully wrapped 
sugar with really pretty things stuck in between. 

Then the mad rush for the Christmas tree and the 
admiring exclamations over its glittering beauty. 
And then — the opening of the gay, be-ribboned 
boxes. The laughter, the joy, the tears, as each 
little parcel disclosed something prettier or funnier 
or dearer than the last. It was all so wonderful 


126 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

that it was a pity it could not have lasted forever. 

Then, after Christmas, one glorious, ecstatic week 
of fun that passed like a day. There were dances 
and parties and sleighrides and so many other fes- 
tivities that there was hardly a minute of the day 
that was not accounted for. 

It was not till the week was almost over that the 
girls thought penitently of the Haddons. 

“I wonder,” said Billie, as she turned over and 
over in her fingers a ten dollar gold piece that had 
been a gift from an aunt, “what kind of Christmas 
poor little Peter has had.” 

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Billie!” Laura replied a 
little impatiently, “what is the use of spoiling all our 
fun by bringing up the unhappiness of some one 
else? We can’t help it if the Haddon’s haven’t had 
as nice a Christmas as we have. We certainly have 
done all we could.” 

But Vi had been eyeing Billie’s gold piece, and 
suddenly she had a bright idea all her own. 

“Listen,” she said, pulling out her pocket book 
and fumbling in it eagerly. She brought out a glis- 
tening five dollar gold piece. “We all got a little 
money in gold this Christmas. Suppose we do it up 
in a box and leave it at the Haddons’ door when we 
get back. We have enough money to get along with 
for the rest of the term, anyway.” 

For a moment Laura looked a little undecided, but 
Billie jumped up, ran over to Vi and hugged her. 


Christmas Cheer 


127 

“You’re a perfect angel!” she cried. “That’s just 
exactly what I was thinking myself. Only I wasn’t 
going to ask you girls. I was just going to leave 
mine and say nothing about it.” 

“Oh, well,” grumbled Laura, taking her own 
bright coin from its hiding place and handing it over 
reluctantly. “If you girls are going to be foolish 
I suppose I’ve got to be too. Only it’s no joke,” 
she added, in a plaintive tone that made the girls 
giggle, “when you think of all the sodas and candy 
it would buy!” 

At last the long anticipated holidays were at an 
end and after a few days of readjustment at the 
school, the classmates settled down to work in earn- 
est. For the rest of the semester was crowded with 
work and the prizes were held out as a glittering bait 
to spur them on to fresh endeavor. 

Only once, after their return to the Hall, the 
girls found time to run over to see the Haddons, 
hoping to be able to hide the generous gift they had 
decided to make in some inconspicuous place where 
it would not be discovered until they had had time 
to make their escape. 

Polly Haddon seemed very glad indeed to see 
them, but she had no good news to report of Peter. 
He was still very low, but the doctor, great man 
that he was, was bending every energy to bring him 
through. 

“But he will die,” said the mother, despairingly. 


128 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“There is so little left of him now that I wonder 
that every breath he draws is not his last. Oh, my 
little boy! My poor little boy! I’ll not let him be 
taken from me!” 

They comforted her as best they could, and then 
Billie, to the astonishment of her chums, began ask- 
ing questions about the knitting machinery model, 
the disappearance of which had so changed life for 
this distracted woman. 

“Was the model large or was it small, so that it 
could easily be stolen and hidden away?” she asked, 
while Polly Haddon looked up at her with some- 
thing like surprise in her black eyes. 

“It was large,” she answered. “And rather 
heavy. It could not be easily stolen, and neither 
could it have been hidden away in any small place. 
That is why we wondered. But why do you ask?” 

“I don't know,” answered Billie honestly. “Per- 
haps it is just because I would like to help you so 
much.” 

The woman reached over and patted her hand 
gently, but her eyes had become listless again- 

“You — everybody — have been so good to me,” she 
said, tonelessly. “I don’t know why you have been 
so good — no one ever was before. But there is one 
thing you can not do for me. You can not restore 
my poor husband’s invention, the loss of which 
caused his death. That would be a miracle. And in 
these days no one is working miracles.” 


Christmas Cheer 


129 

Mrs. Haddon left the room for a moment, and in 
that moment Billie slipped the little box containing 
their three precious gold pieces behind the alarm 
clock that stood on a shelf over the sink. 

The woman returned before Billie had quite fin- 
ished, but she was too worried and anxious and 
unhappy to notice anything unusual. And the little 
box was still safe in its hiding place when the girls 
took their leave a few minutes later. 

‘‘Won’t she be surprised when she finds it?” 
crowed Vi delightedly. “I feel like Santa Claus.” 

“Well, you don’t look like it,” returned Laura. 
“Your face isn’t red enough.” 


CHAPTER XVII 


BILLIE ON GUARD 

From this remark of Laura's it may be easily 
seen that she was still a little grouchy about having 
to give up five dollars' worth of sodas and candy. 
But away down in her heart she derived more real 
pleasure from the thought of what her gold piece 
would buy for the Haddons than she would out of 
a great deal more than five dollars' worth of pleasure 
for herself. 

“Billie," spoke up Vi suddenly after they had 
walked some little way in silence, “what did you ask 
Mrs. Haddon about that lost invention for?" 

“Yes, it sounded as if you really knew something 
about it," Laura took her up eagerly. “You don't, 
do you?" 

“Not a thing in tHe world," Billie replied quickly. 
“Only," she added slowly, the same thoughtful look 
in her eyes that had been there before, “so many 
queer things have happened to me lately that I’m 
getting sort of queer myself, I guess. I can’t help 
thinking about that cave Teddy and I found." 

“Well, I don’t blame you for thinking of it," said 
130 


Billie on Guard 


131 

Laura, looking curiously at her chum. “I think of it 
myself — quite often. But what has that to do with 
the stolen machinery models ?” 

“Nothing, of course,” said Billie, adding as the 
three towers of the grand old Hall loomed into 
view. “But I would like to have a look at the inside 
of that cave again. Maybe the models were taken 
there and broken up. The cave was full of junk.” 

Laura, really curious by this time, was about to 
put a question when she saw Amanda and the 
“Shadow” approaching, and the question died in her 
throat. 

The three classmates, who never deliberately 
“cut” anybody, nodded to the two girls in a friendly 
enough manner, but the latter looked straight ar 
them and never so much as winked an eye. 

“Whew!” whistled Laura, softly, as the chums 
stopped and looked back after the unmannerly girls. 
“Cut, by jinks!” 

“And by Amanda, of all people !” added Vi, in the 
same tone. 

“Well, come on,” said Billie, and she turned and 
led the way up the steps. “There’s no use standing 
there and looking after them like a lot of wooden 
Indians. I’d like — ” she added, her temper getting 
the better of her for the moment, “I would like to 
wring that girl’s neck.” 

“Do you know,” said Vi a few minutes later 
when they were washing themselves in the dormi- 


132 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

tory, “that Amanda has entered for the composition 
prize?” 

The girls looked at her unbelievingly. 

“Amanda !” cried Billie, laughing at the absurdity 
of the thing. “Why, Amanda can hardly write her 
own name. You know that.” 

“Of course I know it,” agreed Vi, scrubbing her 
face vigorously. “That’s why it seems so silly. 
Unless she has something up her sleeve,” she added 
meaningly. 

“How did you find out?” asked Laura, curling up 
on the bed and regarding her chum severely. “Did 
she tell you?” 

“Tell me!” repeated Vi with a chuckle. “That is 
a good one. No, I just happened to overhear her 
telling Eliza that she had entered for the composi- 
tion prize and that she was going to give Billie 
Bradley the surprise of her life.” 

“She surely does love me,” sighed Billie, as she 
pulled her pretty curls into place. “I don’t see why 
she doesn’t pick on somebody else for a change.” 

“Well, you’d better look out, that’s all,” said Vi, 
wrinkling her forehead seriously. “I’m almost sure 
she is planning some crooked work, and it’s up to us 
to double cross her.” 

“Hear, hear !” cried Laura delightedly. “And Vi 
is the one who is always calling me down for using 
slang. Fine for a beginner, Vi darling. Keep it up.” 

The result of this revelation of Vi’s was to make 


Billie on Guard 


133 

the girls watch Amanda and the “Shadow” more 
carefully than ever before. And if it had not been 
for just this watchfulness there is no telling what 
might have happened to Billie Bradley, and through 
her, to her classmates. 

And this was the way it happened. 

Luckily for the three North Bend chums, 
Amanda and her “Shadow” shared the dormitory 
with them and Rose Belser. And so it was that 
Billie, coming in unexpectedly one day heard the 
very end of a sentence spoken in a loud whisper 
by Amanda. And though it was only the end of 
the sentence, it told a great deal to Billie, whose sus- 
picions had already been aroused. 

“ — at ten to-night, in Miss Race’s room,” were 
the words she caught. The fact that Amanda 
stoppped speaking at sight of her and grew an 
unsightly brick red, gave Billie further proof that 
the girl was plotting mischief. Very probably the 
scapegoat was to be — herself. 

She gave no sign that she had heard anything 
out of the ordinary, but when she had found the 
book she had come for and was out in the hall once 
more, her heart was pounding heavily and her face 
was hot. 

Ever since they had come to Three Towers 
Amanda had done her best to discredit Billie. She 
had not succeeded so far, but some time she might. 


134 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Was this the time? thought Billie, a dull rage taking 
possession of her. 

No! She would not let Amanda get the better 
of her. She would outwit her, now that she had 
been warned. Then a dreadful thought came to- 
her. 

Suppose Amanda, thinking she had given her 
secret away, postponed her miserable plot, what- 
ever it was, until another time? No wonder Billie 
answered questions queerly that afternoon, so 
queerly, in fact, that one teacher asked her if she 
were ill and would like to be excused ! 

But Billie did not want to be excused — that would 
mean more time to herself to think. And so she 
blundered through the miserable afternoon and her 
heart jumped with relief when the last gong sounded 
that meant liberty. 

Connie and Laura overtook her in the hall on the 
way to the dormitory and Laura looked ..actually 
anxious. 

“What was the matter with you this afternoon ?” 
she asked. “Why, you answered "no’ three times 
when it should have been ‘yes,’ and it sounded so 
silly I’d have had to laugh if I hadn’t been scared 
to death!” 

“What is it, Billie?” added Connie, putting an 
arm about her friend. “You look dreadfully white. 
Aren’t you feeling well ?” 

Then, pulling them into a secluded corner of the 


Billie on Guard 


135 

dormitory, Billie told them what she had heard, and 
as Vi came in just as she had finished, she had to tell 
it all over again, just for her benefit. 

Of course the girls were all angry, and Laura 
wanted to go and have it out with Amanda at once, 
but Billie, who had had all the afternoon to think 
out the best thing to do, commanded her to say 
nothing about it to any one. 

“Listen,” she said, tensely. “Somebody’s apt to 
come in at any minute, and then I can’t say it. This 
is what we will do to-night. 

“We’ll pull our nighties on over our clothes, get 
into bed and pretend to go to sleep. Then we’ll wait 
till Amanda starts whatever she’s going to do, and 
we’ll follow her and see what she’s up to.” 

“And then,” said Laura, driven to more forceful 
slang by the necessity for emphasis, “we’ll just about 
settle her!” 

True to their plans, they retired to the dormitory 
that night before Amanda or the “Shadow” or Rose 
Belser arrived there, and they hurriedly slipped their 
nightgowns over their clothes and got into bed. 

“Poor Connie’s wailing her heart out,” chuckled 
Laura, “because she’s in another dorm and can’t 
be in at the death. I say, Vi, push the collar of your 
dress down. It shows outside your nightie.” 

“Sh-h,” warned Billie. “I hear somebody com- 
tng 

The somebody proved to be no other than 


136 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Amanda and Eliza, and when they entered they 
found Billie and Laura and Vi sleeping peacefully 
with a cherubic expression of utter innocence on 
their faces. 

It seemed to the girls that they had never lived 
through an hour so long as that between nine o'clock 
and ten that night. And it was with more than 
relief that they heard a slight stir at last and saw 
a shadowy figure slip out of bed and make noise- 
lessly for the door. And while they held their 
breath for fear their breathing might betray them, 
they saw a second shadow flit after the first one. 
'‘The Shadow," in fact! 

They waited till the conspirators had had time to 
get well down the hall, then they too slipped quietly 
out of bed, pulled their nightgowns off, and started 
in pursuit. 

“Sh,” whispered Billie. "Take your time. We 
want to let them do it before we catch them at it." 

When they reached Miss Race’s door they were 
surprised to see a light in the room. Was it pos- 
sible Amanda had been brazen enough to turn on 
the light herself? 

Cautiously Billie peeped into the room and saw 
that Amanda and Eliza were busily at work doing 
something to the teacher’s desk at the other end of 
the room. They were alone, so it must have been 
Amanda who had switched on the light. The girl 
was bold with the courage of stupidity. 


Billie on Guard 


137 

Laura uttered a stifled exclamation, and would 
have pushed past Billie but the latter held her back. 
For still another minute she hesitated, then called to 
the girls softly. 

“Now,” she said, and ran swiftly into the room, 
Laura and Vi beside her. So quickly and silently 
did they come that they were almost upon the two 
girls before either of them looked up. Then 

“Amanda Peabody!” cried Billie, her voice 
choked with anger. “We’ve caught you this time! 
Now let’s see what you were doing!” 


CHAPTER XVIII 


amanda’s revenge 

Amanda’s jaw dropped and she sprang back 
while Eliza cowered behind her. The former held 
an ink bottle which she had been about to turn 
upside down in Miss Race’s desk. 

With a quick movement Laura snatched it from 
the girl’s hand and held it aloft triumphantly. 

“Look, Billie,” she said in a loud whisper. 
“Amanda was going to spill this in the desk and 
then blame it on you.” 

Amanda made a quick dart for the door, but 
Billie ran after her and pulled her back. 

“Not yet,” she said, grimly. “You’ll wait till 
we’re through with you or I’ll go to Miss Walters 
and report the whole thing. You had better not try 
to get funny.” 

Amanda started to bluster, but on second thoughts 
decided not to. Billie and her chums had the argu- 
ment all on their side this time, and the thought 
made her fume inwardly. 

As for the “Shadow,” her homely face was pale 
with fright, and she stood motionless and scared 
13S 


Amanda’s Revenge 139 

on the spot where the girls had first discovered her. 

The plan of the two conspirators had evidently 
been to upset the teacher’s desk and then blame the 
whole thing on Billie. But how could Amanda hope 
to prove that Billie had done it all ? 

Thus thought the girls as they rummaged through 
the desk in search of some further trick. And then, 
they found it. 

“Look at this !” cried Billie, holding aloft a little 
square of linen at sight of which Amanda grew 
more sullen and Eliza quaked. “It’s my handker- 
chief with my initials and my laundry mark on it. 
Those — those — girls — were going to leave it here 
after spilling the ink, and when Miss Race found it 
she would of course think that I was the guilty one. 
Oh — what shall we do to them?” 

She glared at the tricksters while Amanda tossed 
her head defiantly and Eliza shrank still farther back 
into the corner. 

“But that would have been so silly,” cried Laura, 
who had snatched the handkerchief from Billie and 
was examining it eagerly. Vi, in her turn was try- 
ing to pull it from her. “Miss Race would know 
that you would have sense enough not to give your- 
self away by leaving your handkerchief. Their 
heads sure are made of bone,” and she favored the 
girls with a contemptuous glance that was harder to 
bear than Billie’s anger. 

“I wouldn’t leave my handkerchief on purpose of 


140 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

course,” Billie pointed out. “I might have dropped 
it by accident, though.” 

“But how did they get the hanky,” wondered Vi, 
wide-eyed at this example of depravity. 

“Probably stole it out of my pocket when I 
wasn’t looking,” said Billie contemptuously, and at 
that Amanda madfe a show of defense. 

“You needn’t call me a thief, Billie Bradley!” she 
exclaimed, but Laura cut her short with a flippant 
observation. 

“Would you rather she would call Miss Walters?” 
she asked, which effectively closed the girl’s mouth. 

“Let’s make ’em clean up,” suggested Billie. “I’d 
call Miss Walters, only they’re not worth spoiling 
her sleep for. Come on over here, you two, and get 
busy.” 

“We won’t do it,” said Amanda, but as Billie 
started toward her she quite suddenly changed her 
mind. 

“Oh, all right,” she said angrily, as she flounced 
over to the desk, pulling the limp “Shadow” after 
her. “We’ll do it this time. But you just look out, 
Billie Bradley. I’ll make you pay for this.” 

Laura struck a dramatic attitude. 

“Look out,” she cried. “The worm is turning. 
Let us nip it in the bud !” 

It was all right for them to laugh at Amanda’s 
discomfiture then and treat the whole thing as a joke, 


Amanda's Revenge 141 

but in the morning they were not quite sure that they 
had done the right thing. 

“I think we ought to have reported her to Miss 
Walters/’ worried Vi. “Then she and the Shadow 
would have been expelled, or suspended at least, 
and we would have had no more trouble with them. 
As it is ” 

“Oh, don’t be an old gloom hound,” commanded 
Billie, seizing her chum round the waist and whirl- 
ing her about the room in a fantastic dance. 
“They’ve never been able to do anything to us yet, 
so what’s the use of worrying?” 

“Sure,” agreed Laura, busy marking passages in 
her “Life of Washington.” “That’s what I say. 
We’re too many for ’em.” 

But in spite of their optimism, in their hearts 
the girls decided to watch Amanda and her cow- 
ardly “Shadow” more closely than ever in the 
future. 

And the girls would have been put even more on 
their guard if they could have peeped into the 
library one afternoon and overheard the curious 
conversation that took place between two girls seated 
in a far corner of the big room. 

“I’ve got it at last!” gloated one of the girls, who 
was no other than the plotting Amanda herself. 
Eliza, of course, was her inevitable companion. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said 
the latter rather snappishly. For, since the fiasco 


142 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

in Miss Race’s room, she had not entered into 
Amanda’s schemes quite so whole-heartedly as she 
had before. ‘‘I don’t see why you should be so 
pleased about finding a musty old book.” 

“Of course you don’t see,” said Amanda, patron- 
izingly. “That’s what I’m going to explain to you.” 

She paused a moment, regarding the “musty old 
book” in her hand lovingly. Eliza moved impa- 
tiently in the seat beside her and Amanda grinned at 
her. 

“You remember I told you I was going to try for 
the composition prize?” 

“Yes,” said Eliza crossly, adding with a frank- 
ness that might have been disconcerting to anybody 
but Amanda : “And I thought you were crazy even 
to think of it. You haven’t a chance in the world 
beside Billie Bradley or Rose Belser or any of those 
girls.” 

“I know I wouldn’t as a rule,” admitted Amanda, 
her small eyes gleaming with triumph. “But with 
this book,” she caressed the little volume fondly, 
“they won’t have a chance against me!” 

“And still I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re 
talking about,” snapped Eliza. “I wish you’d stop 
grinning to yourself and get to the point — if there 
is one,” she added under her breath. 

“All right,” said Amanda, too delighted with her 
own cleverness to notice her shadow’s bad temper. 


Amanda’s Revenge 143 

“Listen then, and I’ll tell you just how I came to 
think about it. 

“I was rummaging through some books on the 
top shelf one day, trying to find one I needed, when 
down behind the rest of them I happened to come 
across this little old book of biographies of the 
great generals of the world. It was covered with 
dust, and so old and shabby-looking that I was sure 
it hadn’t been touched in an age.” 

“Yes,” said Eliza impatiently, as Amanda paused 
for breath. 

“Of course that was before the composition prize 
was offered, so I put the book back where I found 

it and forgot all about it. But now •” she paused 

and the “Shadow” saw a gleam of light. 

“And now,” Eliza finished, “you think you are 
going to get material enough out of this musty little 
old book to take the prize away from Billie Bradley. 
I see.” 

“Oh no, you don’t see.” It was Amanda’s turn 
to be impatient. “I’m not going to try to write 
an original composition at all. Listen,” she lowered 
her voice to a whisper although they two were the 
only ones in the large room. “I’m going to copy 
it from this book — word for word I” 

For a moment Eliza stared at the grinning girl, 
pop-eyed. Then as the daring of the thing sank 
into her muddled brain she sank back in her chair 
and shook her head slowly. 


144 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“Don’t do it,” she said. “If they should find 
out ” 

“But nobody’s going to find out,” cried Amanda, 
as gleeful as though the coveted prize were already 
in her hands. “This is an old book, and probably 
nobody in this place has even heard of it. Say, 
won’t that Bradley girl’s eyes stick out when she 
sees me walking off with the prize ? Oh my, oh my ! 
This is the time I’m going to settle her!” 

It was just about this time that a furor was 
caused in the school by the disappearance of articles 
belonging to the students. 

The articles were small and seldom valuable — so 
insignificant were some of them, in fact, that the 
owners never missed them until the report of 
numerous other losses spread through the school 
and woke them to the realization that they, too, were 
victims of the petty thief — whoever she was. 

For that the guilty one was one of their school- 
mates there seemed to be little doubt. For what 
outsider would care for such things as pencils and 
erasers and old jackknives? 

It was true that one or two of the losses were 
valuable. A gold-mounted fountain pen for 
instance, which had been a Christmas present to 
one of the girls, who lamented her loss with “loud 
wailings and gnashings of teeth,” as Laura 
described it. 

It was when the excitement over this strange 


Amanda’s Revenge 145 

series of events was at its height that Billie drew 
Laura and Vi aside one day and whispered a 
startling decision in their ears. 

“Girls,” she said, “I’ve dreamed of that locked 
room in tower three two nights in succession, and 
I’ve found an old bunch of keys and one of them 
may fit. Are you willing to come with me? Or 
have I got to go alone?” 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE TOWER ROOM 

For a moment the girls looked as though they 
thought Billie had gone mad. The proposal had 
been made to them so suddenly that it took their 
breath away. 

“But, Billie, aren’t you afraid — after finding 
that blood-stained handkerchief and everything ?” 
demanded Vi, round-eyed. 

“Of course I’m afraid! But I’m going just the 
same/' said Billie stoutly. “I’ve wondered and 
wondered about what might be in that locked room 
till I’m nearly crazy. And if you won’t go with me, 
I’m going alone,” she repeated. 

“Don’t be foolish,” commanded Laura. “If you 
go, of course we’ll go. But suppose none of your 
keys will fit?” she added, glancing at a half dozen 
rusty keys on a still more rusty key ring which 
Billie was jingling nervously. Billie had found the 
key ring on a nail in a dark corner of her locker the 
day before. She had been about to deliver it to the 
lost and found office when the inspiration had come 
146 


The Tower Room 


147 

to her. She would try the keys first to see if by 
any chance one of them could be used to unlock the 
little door in tower three. It would be time enough 
afterward to report her discovery. 

Now at Laura’s question she looked somewhat 
provoked. 

“Don’t you s’pose I’ve thought of that?” she said, 
adding, with a twinkling smile: “Somebody is 
always taking the joy out of life!” 

“We can try ’em, anyway,” said Laura doubt- 
fully, still speaking of the keys. “But they don’t 
look very promising.” 

“But, girls,” Vi protested weakly, “suppose we 
should find something horrible up there — a skeleton 
or something?” 

“Well, the poor old skeleton couldn’t hurt us,” 
returned Laura, adding with a giggle : “Probably it 
would be glad to see us after being up there alone 
so long.” 

“But the blood-stained handkerchief” — Vi whis- 
pered. 

“Oh, that!” said Laura, with a lofty wave of her 
hand. “That’s nothing. I told you before that 
probably somebody had a nose-bleed.” 

Which made even Vi giggle and had the effect of 
stilling her fears for the time being, at least. 

They had hard work getting away from their 
classmates without arousing their suspicion, but 
they succeeded at last. The three girls ran lightly 


148 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

up the three flights of stairs that led to the musty 
old attic. 

Now that the moment was at hand they were 
more excited than nervous, and their hearts beat 
high with the hope that they might really find a 
mystery hidden behind that locked door. But what 
could it be ? 

The queer sounds and heavy musty smell of the 
attic that had seemed so dreadful to Billie on that 
never-to-be-forgotten night seemed natural and even 
funny in the revealing daylight. 

The shadowy corners that had seemed so sinister 
when lighted only by one tiny flickering candle were 
only corners now, cobwebbed and dusty, to be sure, 
but harmless. 

Mice scuttled across the floor squeaking angrily 
at being disturbed, but although Vi screamed and 
Laura side-stepped nervously, Billie only laughed. 
To-day they were only little mice more afraid of 
her than she was of them. That night they had 
been monsters waiting to devour her. 

But just the same, some measure of her nervous- 
ness returned when they reached the stairway down 
which she had nearly tumbled in her wild flight. 

Laura and Vi seemed to share her uneasiness, for 
they stopped at the foot of the stairs and held back 
a little. 

“Who goes up first to meet the skeleton?” asked 


The Tower Room 


149 

Laura, with an attempt at a laugh that sounded 
strained even to herself. 

“You do,” said Vi, adding maliciously: “You 
were the one who said he wouldn’t hurt us.” 

Seeing that Laura was about to argue the point, 
Billie pushed impatiently past them both and ran 
defiantly up the stairs. Laura, thus challenged, took 
the stairs two at a time after her and Vi followed 
reluctantly. 

“Look! There’s the handkerchief,” said Billie, 
kicking the tiny square of blood-stained linen over 
toward Laura, who jumped nervously out of the 
way. 

“Well, you needn’t wish it on me,” she said 
resentfully, picking up the handkerchief by the very 
tip of a corner and presenting it to Billie with a low 
bow. “Here, take back your gold ” 

“What are you two whispering about ?” demanded 
Vi, petulantly, for by this time she was beginning to 
wish she had not come. 

At her question Laura whirled suddenly about 
and poked the blood-stained handkerchief directly 
beneath Vi’s startled nose. 

“There,” she said. “Want it?” 

Vi gave one look, screamed, and fled down the 
stairs. She had gone only halfway, however, when 
Laura overtook her and dragged her back. 

“None of that,” she cried. “You can’t back out 


150 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

now. Besides, we’re only beginning to have some 
fun” 

“Fun!” groaned Vi, keeping a wary eye on the 
handkerchief that Laura still held. “Well, I’m glad 
I know what to call it.” 

“Come on,” said Billie, jingling her rusty keys 
and starting up the ladder. “Now we’ll see whether 
one of these keys will fit.” 

“I hope it doesn’t,” said Vi, under her breath, but 
Laura caught her up sharply. 

“What did you say?” she demanded. 

“Oh — nothing,” said Vi. 

By this time Billie was on the top rung of the 
ladder and her fingers trembled as she tried to fit 
the first of the keys into the lock. She had more 
courage than Vi, yet almost she echoed the other 
girl’s wish — that she would not be able to find a key 
to fit. 

She wanted to see what was on the other side of 
that locked door, yet for some reason — perhaps the 
blood-stained handkerchief — she was afraid to find 
out. 

She had tried every key till she came to the next 
to the last, while Laura and Vi fidgeted at the foot 
of the ladder. 

“Won’t they fit?” asked Laura, impatiently and in 
a high-strung tone. 

“Yes,” said Billie unexpectedly, as the key slipped 
into the lock and turned easily under the pressure 


The Tower Room 


I5i 

of her fingers. She hesitated and looked down at 
the two girls before swinging the door wide. 

“ Aren’t you coming?” she asked, and she could 
not, for the life of her, keep a little scared quality 
out of her voice. 

“Of course,” cried Laura, recovering from her 
surprise — for she had really not expected that any 
of Billie’s keys would fit — and ascending the ladder 
hand over hand. “ ‘Lead on, Macduff, to victory or 
to death!”’ 

Vi groaned again and gingerly put a foot on the 
ladder. She did not know which was worse, to 
remain there by herself or to follow the girls to — 
goodness-knew-what. But the squeak of a mouse 
behind her made her decide in favor of company, 
and she scurried in a panic up the ladder. 

Meanwhile Billie and Laura were experiencing 
rather severe pangs of something — they could not 
have told whether it was disappointment or relief. 

They had braced themselves to find something 
horrible — or at least interesting — in the tower room, 
and they were rather taken aback at finding them- 
selves confronted with a large amount of nothing 
at all. 

There seemed to be a great deal of junk scattered 
about, but in the gloom of the place they could not 
even make that out very clearly. 

There were windows all about the tiny room, but 
they were so encrusted with ancient dirt and cob- 


152 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

webs that the bright sunlight of the out-of-doors 
was reduced to a weird and spooky twilight, which 
seemed somehow to correspond to the forlorn 
aspect of the place. 

“Well,” said Laura, drawing a deep breath, “we 
come up here expecting to find something interest- 
ing and we get — stung !” 

“It does look that way,” admitted Billie ruefully. 
“Seems as if we might at least have met a good 
live ghost or two.” 

“Live ghost!” sniffed Laura crossly, for she was 
really feeling very much injured. “All the ghosts 
that I ever heard about were as dead as a doornail.” 

“For goodness’ sake, stop talking about dead peo- 
ple,” said Vi querulously from the doorway. “If 
there isn’t anything in here — and thank goodness 
there isn’t — let’s go back.” 

“Not yet,” said Billie. Her eyes, become more 
accustomed to the dim light, had lighted upon some- 
thing interesting among the junk. What had caught 
her attention was a large, clumsy-looking thing like 
a queerly shaped wooden box. The girls watched 
her curiously as she bent over to examine it. 

“You haven’t found your ghost, have you?” asked 
Vi, in a voice that was meant to be sarcastic. 

“No,” said Billie, a thrill of wonder and excite- 
ment creeping into her voice. “But I may have 
found something! Girls, come here and have a 
look at this !” 


The Tower Room 153 

The girls picked their way over the rubbish that 
littered the floor. What had seemed like a pecu- 
liarly shaped box proved on closer inspection to be 
some cunningly fashioned wooden machinery. 

The girls looked at each other in awed silence. 
To them all in an instant had come the same thrill- 
ing thought. 

“The lost invention!” murmured Billie. “And we 
thought there was nothing here!” 


CHAPTER XX 


STOLEN 

“Oh, but how do we know?” protested Laura. 
“It looks like machinery of some kind, but we have 
no way of proving that it is the stolen invention.” 
“No,” said Billie, still in a kind of daze. “It may 
be just some old worthless thing that has been put 
up here because it is of no use to anybody. But then 
again ” 

“Oh, I think Laura’s right,” but in Vi, to whom 
this new find of Billie’s was not very interesting. It 
seemed absurd to put any value on that queer-look- 
ing thing. And besides, she was anxious to get out 
of that musty, ill-smelling place. “I thought of 
Mrs. Haddon at first too, but ” 

“Hello! I wonder what this is,” Laura inter- 
rupted her. There had been some blue prints lying 
on the floor near the wooden machinery. In the 
poor light they had remained unnoticed until Laura 
had stumbled upon them quite by accident. 

In her eagerness, Billie forgot to be polite. She 
snatched the papers from her chum and made her 
way to the nearest dust-begrimed window. 

154 


Stolen 


155 

She scanned the prints eagerly and finally came to 
the thing she had so wildly hoped to find. It was 
only a name, but it told a great deal. 

The blue prints were evidently the design of some 
sort of machinery, and down at the foot of one page 
the designer had put his name — Henry Haddon. 

“Girls, girls, look!” cried Billie, almost beside 
herself with excitement at her discovery. “Now 
maybe you’ll dare to say I’m crazy and I don’t know 
what I’m talking about. I dreamed of it two nights 
in succession, and now my dream has come 
true — — ” 

“Well, for goodness’ sake, stop waving that thing 
around and tell us what you’re raving about,” com- 
manded Laura, snatching the blue print from Billie 
in her turn, while Vi crowded close, looking curi- 
ously over her shoulder. 

“Here! At the bottom of this page!” crowed 
Billie, pointing out the name. “See it? Henry 
Haddon!” 

“Henry Haddon !” repeated Laura excitedly. 
“Then it looks as if that really were his invention.” 

“It is the knitting machinery model!” cried Vi, 
forgetting that a moment ago she had scoffed at 
the idea. 

“Of course it is, you gooses — I mean you geese,” 
cried Billie, incoherent in her happiness. “I told 
you so right along, didn’t I? Next time maybe 
you’ll believe your Uncle Billie.” 


156 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“I — guess — yes!” said Laura, still staring at the 
blue prints as though she could not believe they were 
real. “You surely did have the right idea that time, 
Billie.” 

“Of course I did!” cried Billie impishly, bubbling 
over with excitement. “And now I’ve got an idea 
that’s righter yet. Let’s go to Mrs. Haddon and tell 
her about it.” 

“Agreed !” cried Laura. Then she glanced uncer- 
tainly at the blue prints. “Shall we take these 
along?” she asked. 

Billie hesitated, then shook her head. 

“No,” she said, “I think we had better leave 
everything just as we found it.” 

So Laura put the important papers back on the 
spot where she had found them, or as near to it as 
she could remember. 

She then backed out of the room and felt her way 
down the ladder. Vi followed, treading on her fin- 
gers, so that she let go and very nearly tumbled to 
the floor. 

Billie came last, for she was to lock the door. 

But a strange thing happened. Either excitement 
had made Billie’s fingers clumsy or something had 
really happened to the rusty lock. At any rate, she 
could not get the door locked again and after a few 
minutes of nervous fumbling, interspersed with 
remarks from the girls that were anything but 
encouraging, she gave up the attempt. 


Stolen 


15 ? 

“Oh, well, we’ll be back in a little while, anyway,” 
she said, as she came down swiftly hand over hand 
and dropped to the floor beside the girls. “Come on 
now, let’s hurry and find Mrs. Haddon.” 

They scurried down the stairs and were hurrying 
to their dormitory to get on coats and hats when a 
voice hailed them and they stopped impatiently to 
find Rose Belser hurrying toward them. 

“Have you heard the latest, girls?” asked the 
dark-haired girl excitedly, for once forgetting her 
sleepy drawl. 

“No,” said Billie, trying not to sound as impa- 
tient as she felt, while Laura and Vi frowned openly.. 

“It’s up on the bulletin board,” Rose told them, 
too full of her own news to notice their annoyance. 
“Connie Danvers has lost a gold wrist watch and 
Miss Walters is very much upset about it. She 
says that the thief, whoever it is, must be found. 
And she has ordered that no girl leave the Hall until 
to-morrow morning.” 

The girls looked at each other and groaned. 

“Till to-morrow morning!” said Billie, her face as 
long as though a death sentence had just been pro- 
nounced upon her. “Oh, why couldn’t Connie have 
held on to her old watch !” 

Rose’s look of surprise was so genuine that it 
put Billie instantly on her guard. The chums were 
not ready yet to take anybody into their confidence 
about the new discovery. 


158 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

And so she covered her slip as well as she could, 
and they went on together to the dormitory, exclaim- 
ing sympathetically over Connie’s loss. 

The next morning came at last, however, and as 
it was Sunday, the girls were free to go as soon as 
the morning chapel hour was over. But as Miss 
Walters would not allow any girl to leave the build- 
ing without special permission from her, the class- 
mates were forced to go to her and tell her about 
their invasion of the tower room and their dis- 
covery. 

She was displeased that they had not asked her 
consent before taking such a step. But she was also 
very much interested in their story, and readily gave 
them her permission to go to Polly Haddon. 

“Bring her back with you, if you can,” she said, 
“and we will all go together to the tower room.” 

“Now for the fun!” cried Laura, as a few min- 
utes later they stepped out into the crisp air. “Whew ! 
I think we got off lots better than we expected. I 
thought Miss Walters would be awfully mad.” 

“Probably she would have been if she hadn’t had 
so many other things to worry about,” said Vi. 

“Poor Connie!” said Billie. “It surely is too bad 
about her watch. It was a beauty, and she was so 
proud of it.” 

“I hope Miss Walters finds the thief pretty soon,” 
said Laura, frowning. “Everybody thinks it is one 


Stolen 


159 

of the girls, and I’m even beginning to feel guilty 
myself.” 

“Do you think ” Vi began, then flushed as the 

girls looked at her and stopped. 

“What?” asked Laura adding, as Vi still hesi- 
tated. “Come on — we won’t eat you.” 

“Nothing — only — I was wondering if the thief 
might not be Amanda.” 

“Oh, no,” cried Billie quickly. “I’m sure it 
couldn’t be, Vi.” 

The suggestion from Vi startled her, and it trou- 
bled her too, for the very reason that the same idea 
had been in her own mind. 

And suddenly Laura spoke up in support of Vi. 

“I shouldn’t wonder if Vi is right,” she said. 
“Amanda is mean enough for anything.” 

Billie had no answer for that, and so she said 
nothing. But she was more than ever troubled. 

As they neared the little white cottage that had 
seen so much trouble, they forgot Amanda in antici- 
pation of Polly Haddon’s joy at the good news they 
were bringing her. 

They knocked on the door, and the moment it was 
opened pushed eagerly inside and turned to face the 
astonished widow. 

Billie started to speak, but Laura, with her usual 
impulsiveness, was before her. 

“We’ve got good news, Mrs, Haddon/* she 
blurted out. “We’ve found your lost invention.” 


160 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Billie gasped with dismay as Mrs. Haddon turned 
deathly white and grasped the back of a chair for 
support. 

“Oh, Laura, you shouldn’t!” cried Billie, as she 
put an arm about the woman and helped her into a 
chair. “Get some water, quick! There’s a glass in 
the sink.” 

But Mrs. Haddon brushed her impatiently aside. 

“I’m not going to faint,” she said brusquely. 
“Tell me why you said that. Hurry!” 

But Laura thought she had done enough speech- 
making for one day, and it was Billie who answered 
the woman’s questions. 

“It must be ours,” said the latter, at last. “I will 
go with you and make sure. Peter? Yes, he will 
be all right till I get back. He is much better. I 
will be ready in a moment.” 

She returned in less than a minute, a hat perched 
carelessly on her head and a shawl around her 
shoulders. Her eyes burned bright in her thin face. 

No one spoke on the way back. Mrs. Haddon, 
her lips set and her eyes fixed straight ahead, said 
not a word, and the girls were too awed by her emo- 
tion to break the silence. 

Miss Walters met them in the hall, said a few 
words to Mrs. Haddon, then, seeing that the woman 
was keyed to the breaking point, led the way straight 
to the tower room. 

The girls ran up the ladder ahead of the two 


Stolen 


161 


older women. The latter followed more slowly. 
Billie pushed open the little door and entered the 
room. 

Then she started, gasped, rubbed her hand across 
her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming. For 
the spot where the queer wooden machinery had 
stood was empty. The invention was gone; and 
the blue prints were gone, too! 


CHAPTER XXI 


MORE MYSTERY 

Billie Bradley turned cold all over. To have 
brought Polly Haddon here — to have practically 
promised her a fortune — and then to find — noth- 
ing! 

“Billie ! They're gone !” said a voice at her elbow, 
and she turned sharply to find Laura and Vi peering 
inquisitively over her shoulder. 

“I know they’re gone,” she cried, almost sobbing 
in her rage and disappointment. “Oh, girls, what, 
can we do? We can’t tell Mrs. Haddon ” 

“What’s this you can’t tell me?” asked Polly 
Haddon herself, and Billie looked at the woman 
miserably. 

“The model,” she said, her voice almost inaudible. 
“It was here yesterday, and now it’s gone.” 

“Gone!” cried Miss Walters sharply. “How can 
that be? Is it possible that somebody else is in the 
habit of visiting this tower?” 

But Mrs. Haddon pushed her aside. 

“Do you mean that the model is gone — again — 
after bringing me here ?” she cried wildly. “Oh, you 
162 


More Mystery 163 

could not be so cruel, you could not !” The last word 
caught in a sob, and Miss Walters put an arm about 
her compassionately. 

“Listen to me a moment,” she said, in a gentle 
voice of authority. “If the girls are certain that 
the machinery and the blueprints were here as late 
as yesterday ” 

“Oh, we are, we are!” cried Billie eagerly. 

“Then whoever has taken them since could not 
have got very far away with them in this short 
time,” she went on reassuringly. “Your husband’s 
invention — if indeed it was his model the girls found 
here — must still be in this neighborhood, perhaps 
in this very building. Though who,” she added 
thoughtfully, “in this place could wish to steal such 
a thing is indeed a mystery.” 

“Oh, Miss Walters!” cried Billie eagerly, “I’m 
sure nobody here in the Hall has stolen the inven- 
tion. Nobody would have any use for it, and be- 
sides, it isn’t a thing that could be hidden very 
easily.” 

Suddenly Laura had what she thought was a 
bright idea. 

“Maybe somebody stole it who had a grudge 
against Mrs. Haddon,” she suggested. 

Miss Walters looked inquiringly at the woman 
who had drawn away from her embrace and was 
wiping her eyes resignedly. 

“Is there any one you know of who might hold 


164 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

a grudge against your family ?” Miss Walters asked. 

Mrs. Haddon went over to one of the dust- 
begrimed windows and stood there for a moment 
looking out, her fingers tapping a restless tattoo on 
the windowpane. Then she slowly shook her head. 

“No, I can’t think of any one,” she said, adding 
bitterly: “We were too poor and unimportant to 
make enemies of any one. But what does it mat- 
ter?” She turned quickly from the window with one 
of her fierce changes of mood. “The invention is 
gone. I was a fool to think that any good fortune 
would ever come to me. Let me go home.” 

' She brushed fiercely past Miss Walters, but the 
latter put out a gentle hand and detained her. 

“Wait a little,” she begged. Her heart ached 
for the other woman’s suffering. “Come into my 
office with me while I make inquiries and find out 
if any suspicious person has been seen about here 
lately. I am confident,” she added with an assur- 
ance that reached the other woman, “that before 
long we shall be able to recover your property. Will 
you trust me and believe that I want to help you?” 

“Yes,” said Polly Haddon, faint hope once more 
stirring in her heart. “You are more than kind to 
me. 

With what different emotions the classmates left 
the tower room from those with which they had en- 
tered it so hopefully only a few minutes before. 

The girls supposed that now that Miss Walters 


More Mystery 165 

had taken charge of Mrs. Haddon’s affairs, they 
would have no further interest in the matter. But, 
to their surprise and gratification, Miss Walters mo- 
tioned them into her office also. 

Then she summoned the teachers to her one after 
another and questioned them carefully as to whom, 
if anybody, had been seen around Three Towers 
since the afternoon before. 

Through it all Mrs. Haddon sat with an expres- 
sion of utter hopelessness on her face. Evidently the 
faint hope that Miss Walters had for the moment 
revived had died away again. 

It seemed that none of the teachers had seen any- 
thing that might arouse suspicion, and even the girls 
were beginning to despair when they were at last 
given a clue to work on. 

It was Miss Arbuckle who gave it to them. 

She showed considerable surprise at first at being 
questioned. But after wrinkling her forehead 
thoughtfully for a few minutes she remembered 
having seen somebody loitering about the building 
late on the preceding afternoon. 

“Could you identify the person ?” asked Miss 
Walters quickly, alert at once. 

“No,” said Miss Arbuckle, hesitantly, “I couldn’t 
be at all certain because it was dusk and I saw him 
only from the window. But it looked like that 
simple son of Tim Budd, the gardener.” 

“Nick Budd!” cried the three girls together, and" 


166 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

at the name Polly Haddon also roused from her 
reverie. 

“You could not say certainly that it was Nick 
Budd?” said Miss Walters, questioningly. 

“No, I couldn’t, ” returned Miss Arbuckle. “But 
I remember thinking at the time that the fellow was 
acting in a rather peculiar manner, and I even 
thought of reporting him. I was called away by 
some duties then, however, and when I looked from 
the window again he was gone.” 

“Nick Budd!” cried Polly Haddon, in an agitated 
tone, her hands clasping and unclasping in her lap. 
“You asked a while ago if there was anybody who 
might bear a grudge against my family, and I said 
there was no one. But I had forgotten poor foolish 
Nick Budd!” 

“Yes, Mrs. Haddon?” prompted Miss Walters, 
while the girls exchanged excited glances. 

“At one time my husband employed him as a 
handy man about the place,” the woman hurried on. 
“But after a while we noticed that things began to 
disappear — things that were worthless to any one 
else, but dear to us because of their associations.” 

The girls and Miss Walters were intensely in- 
terested now. They were thinking of the numerous 
petty thefts that had taken place in the Hall during 
the past few weeks. Could there be any connection 
between that and Polly Haddon’s story? 

“My husband charged the simpleton with taking 


More Mystery 167 

the things,” the woman went on. “He did it gently 
enough, too, for he was sorry for the poor fellow, 
but Nick fell into one of his rages and slammed out 
of the house, muttering to himself. He never came 
back, and we never saw him again.” 

“Then this boy did have some reason for wishing 
to get even with your husband,” said Miss Walters, 
all interest. “It begins to look as if he were the one 
who stole your invention in the first place. And if 
this was really Nick Budd whom Miss Arbuckle 
saw loitering about the school yesterday, it is prob- 
able he had something to do with its second disap- 
pearance ” she broke off suddenly, for Polly 

Haddon had risen to her feet. 

The girls thought they had never seen such a 
picture of concentrated fury. She stood clutching 
the back of a chair fiercely and her eyes flashed fire. 

“If it is proved that Nick Budd did this thing,” 
she said in a low, tense voice, “I think I shall — 
shall ” 

“But you must remember that he is a simpleton 
and not accountable as sane people are,” put in Miss 
Walters hastily; but apparently the woman did not 
hear her. 

“We must catch Nick Budd and make him con- 
fess,” she said impatiently. “Then perhaps we shall 
find out where he has hidden my property.” 

“Miss Walters!” cried Billie excitedly, jumping 
up, and walking over to the principal, “I think I 


168 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

know where we can find everything that Nick Budd 
has ever stolen. ,, 

“What do you mean?” asked Miss Walters. 
“Speak quickly, Billie.” 

“In Nick Budd’s cave!” cried Billie, triumph- 
antly. 


CHAPTER XXII 


FIRST PRIZE 

“Billie, you’re a wonder! Come on, let’s go!” 
cried Laura, then clapped her hand over her mouth 
and turned a panicky red as she caught Miss Wal- 
ters’ eye upon her. 

But Miss Walters was looking through and be- 
yond Laura, and her gaze came quickly back to 
Billie. Polly Haddon’s eyes were fixed on the girl, 
too, with passionate intensity. 

“Tell us what you mean, Billie,” commanded Miss 
Walters. “Quickly!” 

Billie, remembering suddenly that Miss Arbuckle 
was the only one of the faculty who knew of her 
adventure with Teddy, was embarrassed for a mo- 
ment. But she plunged bravely in and told them 
the whole story from beginning to end, sparing no 
details. 

Miss Walters was intensely interested, and when 
she had finished even Polly Haddon looked encour- 
aged. The latter wished to set forth at once in 
search of the cave, but Miss Walters proposed a 
plan that appealed to everybody, especially the hun- 
gry girls. 


169 


170 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“Wait and have lunch with me in my rooms,” she 
said to Mrs. Haddon. “For it is almost lunch time 
now. Then we can start to hunt for the cave as soon 
as we have finished.” 

Mrs. Haddon looked tempted, but she shook her 
head. 

“There are the children,” she said. “And little 
Peter. There is no one with them.” 

But Miss Arbuckle settled this objection by offer- 
ing to go over and stay with the children and see 
that they were well taken care of during their 
mother’s absence. 

“I was a governess and sort of children’s nurse 
combined, at one time, you know,” and she smiled 
graciously upon the mother. “And I assure you 
that I know how to care for children.” 

Almost upon her words the lunch gong rang, and 
Miss Walters thereupon dismissed the girls to the 
dining-hall. 

“Remember, we will start directly after lunch,” 
she said to them as they fled. 

“Billy, it’s just like a story book or a movie!” 
cried Vi joyfully, as they took their places at the 
table among the noisy, chattering girls. 

“Are you certain you can find the cave again, 
Billie?” asked Laura, as she attacked her heaped-up 
plate of good things ravenously. 

Before Billie could answer Rose Belser leaned 


First Prize 


171 

across the table and asked with a drawl where they 
had been keeping themselves all morning. 

“We’ve made a snowman,” she chuckled. “But 
we needed Billie’s artistic touch to make the face. 
I can’t get the nose to look right.” 

Instinctively the girls glanced out the window and 
saw that it was snowing. And they had never no- 
ticed it! 

“Why, it’s snowing, girls!” remarked Vi bril- 
liantly. “It looks almost like a blizzard.” 

“Are you just waking up?” asked Connie Dan- 
vers, a little crossly. Connie was cross because it 
was the first time in her intimate friendship with the 
girls that they had had a secret from her. “Now I 
know you’re crazy.” 

Billie guessed at Connie’s grievance and, reach- 
ing over, she pressed the hand of her classmate under 
the table. 

“We’ll tell you all about everything to-night,” she 
promised, and Connie’s face brightened miracu- 
lously. 

The snowstorm did indeed look like the beginning 
of a blizzard, and as the girls went to get their wraps 
they worried not a little for fear this new develop- 
ment might put an end to their adventure. 

However, Miss Walters decided that they would 
try it, at least, and Mrs. Haddon was eagerly anxious 
to be off. 

“We’ll try anything once,” whispered Laura to 


172 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Billie, as they went out into the already ankle-deep 
snow, the wind lashing bitingly against their faces. 
“Thank goodness, we can die but once!” 

“Die but once is right/’ said Billie grumpily. She 
was worried for fear she would not be able to find 
the path leading to the cave. 

It would have been hard enough if the ground 
had been clear, but with the snow rapidly obliterat- 
ing every landmark, it was well-nigh impossible. 

“I wish Teddy were here,” she said, half to her- 
self, and her voice was very wistful. 

“Don’t you though !” echoed Laura, heartily. “It 
seems an age since we’ve seen any of the boys.” 

“Say, Billie,” broke in Vi, who was shivering in 
the bitter cold despite her warm furs, “are you sure 
you are going right? It wouldn’t be any fun to be 
lost in these lonely woods with maybe a blizzard 
coming on.” 

At this observation Billie stopped and turned to 
Miss Walters and Polly Haddon, who were follow- 
ing close behind. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking up at Miss Walters 
appealingly. “If it weren’t snowing I might be able 
to find the way, but as it is I’m afraid I would only 
get you all lost. I’m lost myself now.” 

“All right, honey. Don’t look so distressed about 
it,” said Miss Walters, patting her kindly on the 
shoulder. “You would have to know the way pretty 
well to be able to find it in this storm. We shall 


First Prize 


173 

have to give it up to-day, and try again as soon as 
we can.” 

“Yes, that will be best,” said Polly Haddon, 
through chattering teeth. Her thin shawl formed 
scarcely any protection against the freezing weather. 
“Thank you all so much for bothering with my af- 
fairs. Now I must get back to the children. Good- 
bye.” 

Before they had fairly realized she was going, 
she was gone, and the girls and Miss Walters turned 
back to the Hall. 

“Bother the old snow,” said Laura crossly. “I 
always liked it before, but now I hate it.” 

They were all glad when the warmth of Three 
Towers Hall closed in about them again. Miss 
Walters said a few words to them about saying 
nothing of this affair to any one. Then she dis- 
missed them to the dormitory while she herself hur- 
ried off to do a little work that she had neglected all 
day. For around examination time, Miss Walters 
was not always free, even on Sunday. 

Some of the girls had seen Billie and Laura and 
Vi come in with Miss Walters, and they demanded to 
know what “all the excitement was about.” And 
the fact that the girls would not talk made their 
classmates all the more curious. 

Connie was the only one to whom they would tell 
the story, for they knew that they could trust her as 
they trusted themselves. 


174 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“And it’s still snowing/’ mourned Billie, as she 
cleared a space on the misted window and looked 
out at the snow-covered world. “It looks as if we 
shouldn’t get out of here for weeks !” 

Billie’s gloomy prophecy was fulfilled. The storm 
developed into one of the worst blizzards that part 
of the country had ever known, and for almost two 
weeks the occupants of Three Towers were prac- 
tically house-bound. 

It was good that the school boasted a well-stocked 
larder. Otherwise the girls might actually have gone 
hungry. And they wondered a great deal about 
Polly Haddon and her little brood. 

“Suppose she hasn’t enough in the house to eat?” 
worried Vi. “Why, they may starve!” 

“Maybe she used the gold pieces we left her to 
stock up when she saw the blizzard coming on,” 
suggested Billie, and the suggestion comforted them 
a great deal. 

The day was approaching when those competing 
for the composition prize were to hand in their es- 
says. Billie and Laura and Connie and Rose Belser 
and the half dozen other girls who had entered the 
lists were writing like mad — and biting their pens 
to bits — in an effort to get their essays in on time. 

And in the heart of each was the fervent hope 
that she would be the winner. Only Amanda had 
no need to hope. She was sure! The prize was 
hers ! 


First Prize 


175 

She had carried out her intention of copying her 
essay straight from the little musty book. So sure 
was she that her ruse would not be detected that 
she had not bothered to alter a word. And while the 
others worked, she smiled. 

At last came the day when the finished essays were 
to be handed in, and all day long Miss Walters was 
closeted in her office with Miss Race and one or 
two of the other teachers, reading and tabulating the 
manuscripts as they came to her. 

So busy had Billie been in rewriting a phrase here, 
changing a word there, that she handed in her essay 
the very last of all — just a scant half hour before 
the time was up. But she was happy, because she 
knew that she had given her best effort. 

“I imagine we shall enjoy reading this,” Miss 
Walters remarked to her associates, tapping Billie’s 
manuscript with a thoughtful finger. “Billie Brad- 
ley has real literary talent.” 

The result of the contest was to be announced the 
next morning in the auditorium and the prizes to 
be awarded to the winners. 

When the longed-for, yet dreaded, moment ar- 
rived, the girls filed into the auditorium, the contest- 
ants near the front, and almost the entire school 
occupying the seats behind them. 

Billie’s heart was hammering so loudly that she 
glanced about her to see if anybody else seemed to 
notice it. But the majority of the girls were bab- 


176 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

bling away too excitedly to hear anything but them- 
selves. 

Billie was surprised to see that even the girls 
who were expecting to hear their fate within the 
next few moments were talking — chattering away 
excitedly, to be sure — but still talking. As for her- 
self, she was sure she could not have uttered a word 
just then if her life had depended upon it. She did 
want that prize so dreadfully ! 

“Cheer up, Billie,” whispered Vi, slipping a loyal 
hand into hers. “You’re not afraid of missing the 
prize, are you? Why, you couldn’t miss it if you 
tried.” 

Billie did not say anything, but she gripped Vi’s 
hand hard. And she was still holding on to it when 
Miss Walters ascended the platform and a deep 
hush spread over the room. 

“As you all know,” came the clear, sweet voice 
of the head of Three Towers Hall, “I have come 
here this morning to announce the winners of the 
composition prize. 

“I and my associates have had difficulty in choos- 
ing the winning essays, for the reason that they are 
all so excellent. We are only sorry that we have 
not a prize to attach to each.” 

A buzz broke out in the audience, but when Miss 
Walters raised her hand it instantly died down 
again. 


First Prize 177 

“And now,” she said, “not to keep you any longer 
in suspense, we will announce the winners.” 

Billie’s grip on Vi’s hand tightened till it hurt. 

Then into the tense silence Miss Walters threw 
the bomb of her announcement. 

“The first prize goes to Amanda Peabody,” she 
said. “Will she please step up upon the platform?” 


CHAPTER XXIII 


DISGRACED 

For a moment there was intense silence while 
Amanda rose triumphantly and flounced up to the 
platform. 

Then an amazed, angry buzz rose from the 
audience of indignant girls. Amanda, who was 
proverbially stupid, to have taken the prize from 
some of the brightest girls in the school! It was 
impossible — incredible! And yet it was only too 
true ! 

Miss Walters, with a few words of congratula- 
tion, handed the prize — a fine set of books — to 
Amanda, and the latter swept haughtily back to 
her seat, triumph in every line of her figure as she 
passed the other pupils. 

She had beaten Billie Bradley at last! And her 
revenge was sweeter than even she had dreamed it 
would be. 

But Billie, tears of anger and disappointment 
stinging her eyes, felt sure that she had not been 
beaten fairly. Amanda had played a trick on her, 
on the rest of the contestants for the prize, on Miss 
178 


Disgraced 179 

Walters herself. But, in Teddy’s vocabulary, 
Amanda had “gotten away with it.” The prize was 
in her possession. 

“It’s a shame,” she heard in angry protest all 
about her. 

“She never did it honestly.” 

“Somebody ought to tell Miss Walters. She 
doesn’t know Amanda as well as we do.” 

But Miss Walters had raised her hand for silence, 
and in a few seconds the angry murmurs died down 
again. 

“I have the pleasure of awarding the second 
prize,” the principal announced, “to Beatrice Brad- 
ley. Will you step up on the platform, Billie?” 

The second prize! She didn’t want the second 
prize, Billie told herself, when Amanda had come 
in first. To march up there on the platform with 
that girl’s gloating eyes upon her 

But Vi and Laura were pulling her out of her 
seat, pushing her out into the aisle — and while Billie 
hesitated Miss Walters had impatiently repeated her 
summons. 

Someway Billie found her way to the platform, 
thanked Miss Walters incoherently for the fine vol- 
ume of poetry which was the second prize, and 
stumbled back to happy oblivion among her school- 
mates. 

“It’s a shame, honey,” Laura whispered in her 
ear, generously forgetting her own disappointment 


180 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

in Billie’s. “But never mind, you got the second 
prize anyway — which was more than the rest of us 
did,” she added, with a little stab of regret at her 
own failure. 

“And you would have won the first prize if it 
hadn’t been for that cat,” added Vi fiercely. 

Billie pressed their hands gratefully and glanced 
for the first time at her prize. 

“I’d like to throw it away!” she cried fiercely. 

“Sh-h,” whispered Vi, for Miss Walters was 
making an interesting announcement. 

“The winning compositions will now be read,” 
she said. “Miss Arbuckle has volunteered to give 
us that pleasure.” 

There was a great clapping of hands as Miss 
Arbuckle stepped on the platform and smiled down 
at them. For the little teacher was a great fa- 
vorite with the girls. 

“We will read Amanda’s composition first,” she 
said, “as it has had the distinction of winning the 
first prize.” 

Again there was tense silence in the Hall. The 
girls were agog with curiosity to hear this wonder- 
ful composition which had been written by one of 
the notoriously stupid girls of the school. 

As for Amanda, she had not foreseen this event. 
She had not expected to hear her stolen composi- 
tion read aloud, and before all this assembly of 
stern young critics. The prospect made her a trifle 


Disgraced 181 

nervous, but her smile was as proudly triumphant 
as ever. 

Her chief concern was with Eliza. For the girl 
was so white and scared that she threatened to give 
the deception away. 

Amanda gave her a sharp nudge with her elbow. 

“Cheer up, will you?” she muttered fiercely. 
“You’re not at a funeral.” 

Miss Ar buckle began to read, and as she read 
the well-rounded phrases, the telling metaphors, the 
girls became more than ever stupefied with aston- 
ishment. 

“Could it be,” they asked themselves incredu- 
lously, “that Amanda had remarkable literary abil- 
ity that they had never suspected? Could she really 
have written a thing like that?” 

The same thought seemed to be in Miss Arbuckle’s 
mind, for as she read on her brow became clouded 
and she paused now and then as though she were 
trying to recollect something. 

Finally she stopped altogether, looked across at 
Amanda for a thoughtful moment, then laid the 
manuscript down and turned to Miss Walters. She 
said something that the girls could not catch, then 
hurried from the room. 

This was something no one had counted upon. 
Amanda, her triumphant smile gone at last, quaked 
as she heard again the excited buzz of the girls 
about her. 


1 8 2 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Miss Walters’ voice rose over the murmur, clear 
and very grave. 

“Miss Arbuckle thinks she has made a discov- 
ery,” she said. “She will be back in a moment, and 
until then I must ask that there be absolute silence 
in the room.” 

Miss Sara Walters possessed that rare gift of 
authority that needed no raising of the voice or 
undue emphasis to command obedience. 

Instantly the murmuring stopped and the girls 
waited in breathless silence for Miss Arbuckle’s re- 
turn. 

They did not have to wait long. A moment later 
the teacher reentered the room, holding a book in 
her hand, the sight of which made Amanda’s craven 
heart sink in consternation. 

The book looked like an exact copy of the one 
from which she had copied her “original” prize 
composition ! 

“Miss Walters,” said Miss Arbuckle in a voice 
which indignation made vibrant, “I am sorry to have 
to admit that one of the students of Three Towers 
Hall has been guilty of so disgraceful an act. But 
the composition that I have just read, the essay 
that was handed in as original by Amanda Pea- 
body, has been copied word for word from this 
book. 

“It is an old book that has been in my possession 
for years — was my father’s before it was mine — 


Disgraced 183 

and doubtless the girl thought herself perfectly safe 
in copying from it. Here is the passage.” She 
had been marking a place with her finger, and now 
she opened the book at the place and handed it to 
Miss Walters to read. 

What a hideous minute for Amanda! If she had 
been awaiting a death sentence she could hardly 
have felt more terrified. 

To be publicly disgraced, to have all the girls 
laughing at her, gloating over her 

With intense gravity Miss Walters closed the 
book and laid it on the table. Amanda knew that 
her moment had come. 

“Amanda,” said Miss Walters sternly, “will you 
please stand up in your place?” 

Amanda stood up, conscious of a score of curi- 
ous and contemptuous glances focused upon her. 
Her heart was beating suffocatingly, her hands were 
clenched tight at her side. 

“You have been guilty to-day,” Miss Walters’ 
clear voice pronounced sentence, “of blackening the 
good name of Three Towers Hall by a most dis- 
graceful act. But by your wretched duplicity you 
have injured yourself far more than you have in- 
jured any one else. You will go to my office. I 
will see you there.” 

There was intense silence while Amanda, her 
head hanging, walked from the room. Then the 


184 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

eager murmur rose once more, but again Miss Wal- 
ters lifted her hand for silence. 

“I am sorry,” she said. “More sorry than I can 
express that such a thing could have happened here. 
Of course the first prize will now go to Beatrice 
Bradley and I will decide later to whom the second 
prize belongs. That is all.” With a little gesture 
she dismissed them and she herself walked quickly 
from the room. 

Then the riot that had been suppressed so long 
broke loose and the girls formed into little groups 
talking excitedly and all at once about the dramatic 
turn events had taken. 

Billie, the center of a little group of her own, was 
fairly overwhelmed with congratulations. 

“We knew all along that you should have been 
the winner !” 

“To think that Amanda should try to get away 
with a thing like that !” said Laura, disgustedly. 

“She might have, just the same,” Connie re- 
minded her. “It was just luck that Miss Arbuckle 
happened to have that book.” 

“My, but I bet you’re happy, Billie Bradley!” 
sighed Vi. “I shouldn’t let anybody speak to me 
if I were in your place.” 

“What’s the matter, honey?” asked Laura, re- 
garding Billie’s sober face curiously. “I say, cheer 
up, old dear. What have you got to gloom about?” 

“I was just thinking about Amanda,” said Billie, 


Disgraced 185 

with all her sweet sympathy for the unfortunate. 
“I was wondering how it would feel to be in her 
shoes now. ,, 

“Out, out upon such doleful thoughts,” Laura 
sang out airily. But Billie, who had turned toward 
the window, suddenly clutched her by the arm. 

“Look!” she said, excitedly. “There’s Nick 
Budd!” 


CHAPTER XXIV 


TRIUMPH 

Before her classmates knew what she was about 
or had fairly taken in what she had said, Billie had 
darted from the room and was flying toward the 
dormitory. 

“She's crazy again,” cried Vi. “Come on,” and 
she and Laura and Connie flew after her, overtak- 
ing her as she reached the stairs. 

“What’s the big idea?” gasped Laura, as they 
ran together down the hall toward the dormitory. 
“What do you expect to do to poor Nick — sandbag 
him ?” 

“Something like that,” returned Billie, slipping 
hurriedly into her coat and hat and motioning im- 
patiently for the girls to do' the same. “If we can 
only get hold of him we may be able to frighten him 
into telling us where the machinery is.” 

“Oh, and maybe I’ll be able to get my watch 
back !” added Connie, pulling a dark cap down over 
her fluffy hair and carefully adjusting it at the right 
angle. 

“We won’t get anything if you don’t hurry,” said 
1 86 


Triumph 187 

Billie, regarding her impatiently. “What do you 
think you're going to, anyway? A party?" 

“You had better put on your leggings," suggested 
Vi, looking doubtfully at the rubbers Billie had 
pulled on over her shoes. “The snow’s awfully 
deep.” 

“Haven’t time," cried Billie, adding distractedly : 
“For mercy sake, hurry ! While you girls are doll- 
ing up for a party, Nick Budd will be gone." 

At this dreadful thought the girls stopped, fussing 
and followed Billie hurriedly down the stairs. They 
slowed down in the lower hall, however, for there 
they were apt to meet a teacher, and undue haste 
might be thought suspicious by one of these “un- 
reasonable beings." 

At sight of Nick Budd, a plan had come to Billie. 
She remembered how terrified he had seemed when 
he had found Teddy and her in the cave that day 
and thought in his crazy mind that they had come 
to arrest him. 

So she was going to take a chance of so frighten- 
ing him with a threat of arrest that he would con- 
fess, and perhaps even be prevailed upon to lead 
them to the cave. 

In case this plan should fail, she had not an idea 
in the world what she would do next. But the plan 
did not fail. It worked more perfectly than she 
had dared to hope. 

They caught up to the simpleton just as he was 


188 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

sneaking around to the janitor’s entrance of the 
school, and the fellow shrank from them like a 
frightened animal. 

“Wh-what do you want?” he stammered, his 
hands out as though to ward them off. * “I haven’t 
done nothin’. Ye can’t arrest me. I haven’t done 
nothin’, I tell you.” His terror was pitiful, but 
Billie followed up her advantage ruthlessly while 
the girls stood by in admiring silence. 

“You have done something,” she told him sternly, 
while he cowered still further back from her. 
“You’ve stolen things — lots of things. And we will 
have you arrested ” 

“Oh no — oh no,” he cried out, fairly gibbering 
in his terror and slinking further back against the 
wall. “Ye’re tryin’ to scare me. I haven’t done 
nothin’, I tell ye.” 

But Billie took him by the sleeve and shook him 
as she would a bad child. 

“I tell you I know ” she cried, conviction in her 
tone that carried even to the poor muddled brain 
of the simpleton. “And I know where they are, 
too. They are in your cave, hidden away. Every- 
last-one-of-them !” 

Of course Billie was taking a big chance, but the 
shot went home. 

The simpleton stared at her for a moment out 
of his blood-shot eyes while his big mouth dropped 
open. Then he began to cry, great tears that ran 


Triumph 189 

down his grimy face and made crooked streaks 
upon it. 

It was an indescribably terrible and pitiful sight, 
the poor silly fellow in his abject terror, and or- 
dinarily Billie would have felt sorry for him. But 
she thought of Polly Haddon, and the thought gave 
her courage. Polly Haddon had suffered, and now 
if it was this poor simpleton’s turn, it was no more 
than he deserved, after all. 

“Listen to me carefully,’ 1 she said, pulling at his 
sleeve again and speaking very distinctly. “If you 
will take us to the cave and promise to give back 
everything you have stolen to the people you have 
stolen from, we will try to keep you from being 
arrested.” 

“You won’t put me in jail?” jabbered the sim- 
pleton. “You won’t let the policemen get me?” 

Billie shook her head, adding quickly: “But you 
must take us to the cave right away and help us 
bring back the things you have stolen. Otherwise 
we will have you arrested to-night.” 

They were hardly prepared for his sudden ac- 
ceptance of the ultimatum. He turned, with the 
swiftness that had surprised Billie and Teddy be- 
fore, and strode off through the heavy snow, the 
girls, after a minute of indecision, following. 

“What do you suppose Miss Walters will say?” 
Laura whispered in Billie’s ear. “Do you suppose 
she will mind our running away like this?” 


190 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“I don’t know,” answered Billie, adding with a 
hint of premature triumph in her voice: “I don’t 
imagine she will say anything though if we come 
home with the knitting machinery models, the blue 
prints, and an armful of stolen things besides.” 

“Oh, if I can only get back my watch, I’ll be 
happy,” sighed Connie, as she plodded along be- 
side Vi. 

“ ‘If’ is right,” said Laura, ruefully. “We 
haven’t got anything yet, you know.” 

“Now who’s the wet blanket?” cried Billie gayly. 
She was feeling amazingly happy and confident all 
of a sudden. For had not she just won the first 
prize for the best composition? After that she felt 
that she could accomplish anything. 

It was no easy task to make their way through 
the woods. Nick Budd trudged along sturdily, 
hardly looking at the girls. 

“He may be simple-minded, but he is as strong 
as a horse — at least, when it comes to walking,” re- 
marked Laura in a whisper. 

“Many simple-minded folks are strong,” answered 
Billie. “Why, some lunatics are noted for their 
strength — I once heard my father say so.” 

They had to pass over an exceedingly rough rise* 
of ground and then down through a hollow where 
the bushes grew close together. Here the walking 
was very uneven and Connie gave a sudden cry of 
pain. 


Triumph 191 

“What’s the matter?” demanded Billie quickly, 
and came to a halt beside her classmate. 

“I slipped into a hole and I — I guess I wrenched 
my ankle,” and Connie made a wry face. 

“Can’t you go on?” questioned Vi. 

“I — I guess so, but I’ll do a little limping,” was 
Connie’s reply. 

“We’ll have to be careful,” warned Billie. “We 
don’t want to hurt ourselves if we can help it.” 

After an hour of trudging through the snow they 
came at last to the twig-entwined entrance to Nick’s 
cave. Luckily the simpleton had beaten a sort of 
path through the snow from Three Towers to the 
cave — a fact which showed that he had made fre- 
quent visits to the school — or the girls almost surely 
could not have made the trip. 

Nick pulled aside the twigs that concealed the 
entrance and dived inside, leaving the girls to follow 
as best they could. 

But the girls did not follow — immediately. They 
were no cowards, but the sight of that yawning dark 
mouth was enough to make them hesitate. And be- 
sides, there was a simpleton at the other end of that 
dark passage, a simpleton who might be mad enough 
by this time to do any desperate thing. 

“You go first, Billie,” Vi urged nervously. “He 
is afraid of you ” 

But at that moment a dancing light flickered down 
the dark passage and immediately Nick Budd him- 


192 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

self appeared, carrying a lighted candle which he 
carefully shielded from the wind. 

The terror had not left his face, and he looked 
at Billie abjectly, like a beaten dog. 

“Will ye come in?” he asked in a barely audible 
voice. “Or shall I bring the things out here?” 

But as the latter course would give the simpleton 
an excellent chance to retain some of his loot, Billie 
replied firmly that they would come in and see for 
themselves. 

Vi made a noise that sounded something like a 
groan, and Connie echoed it pathetically. But they 
joined the queer little procession just the same, fol- 
lowing Nick Budd down the dark passage to the 
still darker cave, guided only by the flaring light 
of his one candle. 

It was a dangerous thing for the girls to do. 
The simpleton, with the cunning of the mentally- 
deficient, might have decided to attack them all there 
in the darkness of the cave. And he would have 
had a good chance of doing it, too. 

But the gods that favor the daring watched over 
the girls that day and brought them safely through 
their adventure. 

Billie had evidently thoroughly cowed the sim- 
pleton, and his one thought was to get rid of his 
stolen goods as quickly as poss^T and thus evade 
the dreadful prison that loomed more horrible to 
him than death. 


Triumph 193 

There in a corner of the cave the girls found the 
knitting machinery model and the precious blue 
prints, besides a great pile of small trinkets that com- 
prised pretty nearly everything that had been stolen 
from the girls during the last few weeks. 

They were no more eager to linger in the cave 
than Nick Budd was to have them. So they 
eagerly pocketed as many of the trinkets as they 
could — Connie snapping the precious recovered 
wrist watch about her wrist with as much joy as 
though it had been three times as valuable as it really 
was — and Billie, taking the candle from Nick Budd’s 
fingers, ordered him to carry the wooden machinery. 
She herself took charge of the blue prints. 

When they had reached the outside world once 
more, Billie blew out the candle, threw it into the 
cave, and readjusted the twigs at the entrance as 
best she could. 

Then she ordered Nick Budd to lead the way back 
to the Hall. This the simpleton did, although he 
sometimes staggered under the weight he carried and 
several times had to put his burden down. 

But in spite of the delays and the cold, the return 
journey seemed short to the girls, for they were tri- 
umphantly happy and chattered like magpies all the 
way back. 

“I’ve got my wrist watch! I’ve got my wrist 
watch !”■ crowed Connie over and over again till 


194 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

the girls got tired of hearing her and Laura asked 
her if she would mind changing her tune. 

“And won’t the girls be surprised when we tell 
them what sleuths we are,” added Vi. 

“Humph,” sniffed Laura. “Billie is the real de- 
tective. We’re only — what do you call ’em? — ‘also 
rans.’ We come in at the end and clap noisily.” 

“Nonsense,” laughed Billie. “I couldn’t have 
done a thing without you girls. Look out,” she 
cried sharply, as Nick Budd stumbled and almost 
dropped his load. “If you should break that thing, 
Nick Budd, I’d murder you.” But this last was 
delivered in an undertone. The poor simpleton had 
troubles enough without being threatened. 

“Oh,” giggled Laura, incorrigibly, “ain’t she the 
vicious thing?” 

One would have thought that the girls had had 
about enough excitement that day, but it seemed 
that fate still held a little more in store for them. 

They were coming up the winding path that led 
to the Hall when they saw a black-clad figure that 
looked strangely familiar hurrying on before them. 

“Isn’t that Polly Haddon?” asked Vi, eagerly. 
“Yes, it is. Oh, what luck!” 

She was about to call out, but Billie stopped her. 

“We’ll want to break it to her gently,” she 
warned, but her warning came too late. Polly Had- 
don had heard their voices and had glanced back 
indifferently. 


Triumph 195 

Then, recognizing the girls, she turned and came 
hurrying toward them. At sight of her, Nick Budd 
dropped his burden in the snow and ran for all he 
was worth back the way he had come. 

Billie tried to put herself between Polly Haddon 
and that bulky object in the snow, but once more 
she was too late. For the woman had seen. 

With a little cry, Polly Haddon crumpled sud- 
denly and lay out in the snow, as inert as a bundle 
of old clothes. 

“Good gracious !” cried Laura frantically. “Now 
just when everything is beautiful and lovely, she’s 
gone and died!” 


CHAPTER XXV 


FRETTY FROCKS 

But Polly Haddon had not died. One very sel- 
dom does — of happiness. Some way the girls man- 
aged to get her inside the Hall and administer hot 
drinks and hot food and in a surprisingly short time 
she was herself again. 

Not quite herself, for she was beautified and 
transfigured with happiness into a very different 
Polly Haddon from the one the girls had known. 

Miss Walters was summoned and made her come 
into her own private rooms. Of course the girls 
went also, and while Mrs. Haddon was stretched 
luxuriously on a couch in Miss Walters’ sitting- 
room, Billie told how she had frightened the sim- 
pleton into confessing his guilt and restoring the 
stolen goods. 

Billie was so modest about her leading part in 
the affair that Laura was forced to interrupt occa- 
sionally, and, disregarding Billie’s frowns, add a 
bit of explanation here and there that enabled her 
audience to visualize the thing just as it had hap- 
pened. 


196 


* Pretty Frocks 197 

The machinery model had been brought inside and 
deposited in one of the study halls, and now Miss 
Walters asked Mrs. Haddon what she wished done 
with it. 

“We can keep it here for you, in the big school 
safe/’ she suggested, “or we can have it carried 
over to your house, just as you wish.” 

“Oh no, leave it here,” said Polly Haddon quickly. 
“I will notify that Philadelphia knitting company 
that the invention has been recovered, and if they 
still wish to buy it, it probably will not remain here 

long. Oh, how can I thank you all ” her voice 

broke, and for a little while all of them felt a bit 
uncomfortable while Polly Haddon sobbed out her 
happiness and gratitude. 

It was over at last, however, and the girls were 
free to go back to their dormitory and the curiosity 
of their friends. 

Here, perched on the bed with Connie and Vi, 
Laura gave a graphic account of everything just as 
it had happened to a sympathetic audience of some 
twenty girls. 

She rang Billie’s praises to such an extent that 
the poor girl tried to hide herself in an inconspicu- 
ous corner, only to be dragged forth into the lime- 
light again by a couple of laughing and heartless 
maidens. 

“You get up there where you belong,” cried one 
of them, shoving Billie up into the center of the bed 


198 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

which was already over-crowded with giggling girls. 
“Don’t you know that you’re a real, honest-to-good- 
ness heroine?” 

“And for the second time to-day,” drawled Rose 
Belser, her eyes fixed a little enviously upon Billie’s 
pretty, flushed face. “Wasn’t it enough to win the 
prize, without going and getting yourself in the lime- 
light again ?* 

Laura and Vi flushed angrily, for there was a 
little malice under the question. But Billie took it 
all good-naturedly. 

“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose — not the last 
part, anyway,” she said. 

“We know you didn’t, honey,” said Connie, ruf- 
fling Billie’s dark curls fondly. “You’re just nat- 
urally talented.” 

“By the way,” asked Laura, after an interval 
of skylarking, “does anybody know what happened 
to Amanda?” 

“She was suspended,” replied one of the girls. 

“And I thought it was a pity she wasn’t expelled,” 
spoke up another. 

“Poor Eliza!” drawled Rose. “I wonder what 
she will do without her master.” 

“Does anybody know who won the second prize?” 
asked Laura carelessly. 

“What a queer question to ask,” said Caroline 
Brant, who had been dreaming about the thesis she 


Pretty Frocks 199 

was going to write and had hardly heard a word of 
the conversation. “You did, of course !” 

It took a little time for this to sink in, for Laura 
had long ago given up hope of winning a prize for 
herself. But when it did finally beat its way into 
her mind she straightway proceeded to turn the 
place upside down in her hilarity. 

She found Billie’s sewing basket, dumped out its 
contents, and turned it upside down on her head for 
a crown. 

Then she draped a bedspread about her shoulders, 
queen fashion, and two of her classmates caught up 
the dangling ends that formed a train. 

Then they marched through the halls crying, 
“Way for the queen !” and gathering a crowd of 
giggling girls as they went. 

“What’s it all about?” 

“Queen indeed ! Just look at her with that work- 
basket on her head !” 

“They are having the sport because Laura took 
the second prize in that composition contest.” 

“Oh, that’s it, is it? Well, I’m glad they showed 
up Amanda — and Billie Bradley certainly deserved 
the first prize.” 

The merriment grew louder, and presently the 
crowd made Laura mount a stand and deliver what 
they called “an oration.” 

“Tell us about making linen dusters for the Lap- 
landers,” suggested one girl. 


200 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“Or overcoats for the heathens in Africa,” sug- 
gested another. 

“Or how to make sponge cake from live sponges. ,, 

“Or why Washington didn’t use submarines when 
his army crossed the Delaware.” 

“I can talk but I can’t make a speech,” declared 
Laura. “In other words, I could say something if 
I could only frame my speech properly — that 


“If she could only get her tongue to working,” 
broke in Vi, and at this the assembled girls roared. 

It was only when rumor said that Miss Walters 
was coming their way that the hilarious party broke 
up and scurried for home and safety. 

“Take off that ridiculous thing,” cried Billie, jerk- 
ing at the bedspread, herself weak from laughing. 
“And give me back me work basket, woman, before 
Miss Walters catches you and sends you after 
Amanda.” 

“Goodness,” said Laura, meekly handing Billie 
her property, “do you think she would? It may 
suit Amanda fine to be suspended, but I’m more 
comfortable the way I am.” 

And so the time wore on with studies and les- 
sons and fun until the girls woke up one day to 
find that the summer holidays were almost upon 
them. 

Mrs. Haddon had sold the knitting machinery 


201 


Pretty Frocks 

model to the Philadelphia concern at a price that 
was a fortune to her. 

The little white cottage had been remodeled and 
furnished prettily, and Polly Haddon had grown 
prosperous and handsome and oh, so happy. 

But the most remarkable thing to the girls was 
the change in Mary and Isabel and Peter Haddon. 
The children, who had been such sorry little waifs 
in their poverty, had grown almost beautiful in the 
days of their prosperity. Polly Haddon’s pride in 
them and their pretty clothes was almost pathetic. 

The North Bend girls and Connie were often vis- 
itors at the little cottage, and sometimes the boys 
went with them on their visits and were treated to 
a dinner of waffles and maple syrup that, to quote 
Chet, “would make an Indian’s hair curl.” 

And now, as the girls realized how fast the time 
was flying, they conceived the idea of giving a party. 
Not a small party, but a real one with cake and ice- 
cream and snappers and everything. 

“I wonder,” breathed Vi daringly, “if Miss Wal- 
ters would mind if we should ask a few of the boys 
— just a very few, you know.” 

“There would have to be enough to go around,” 
interposed Billie. 

“I should say so!” said Connie with emphasis. 
“Especially as Billie is sure to have at least two 
of them. I want to dance with Teddy and Paul 


202 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

Martinson once or twice myself, my dear,” she said, 
eyeing the laughing Billie sternly. 

“And I’m quite sure dear Rose will, too — espe- 
cially Teddy,” murmured Laura, maliciously. 

They found that Miss Walters was quite willing 
to let them have the party and the boys, too — pro- 
vided the latter did not stay too late — and then the 
plans began in earnest. 

They sent invitations to about twenty of the boys 
at the Academy and the invitations were accepted 
promptly and eagerly. 

About two days before the great event, the girls 
decorated the two big sitting-rooms on the ground 
floor which Miss Walters had said they could use, 
and when they had finished no ballroom ever looked 
prettier — even the girls said so. 

Then at last came the morning of the great day, 
then the afternoon and then — the evening — and time 
for the girls to dress. 

They had brought out their best party frocks for 
the occasion and the closest chums had compared 
colors carefully so that they would be sure not to 
“clash.” Billie was to wear pale green net with a 
touch of pink, Laura light blue, Connie had chosen 
a lovely rose pink that went well with her fluffy 
fairness, and Vi had decided on golden yellow that 
made her look like a queen. Rose Belser was 
dressed in an expensive black frock that was far 


Pretty Frocks 203 

too old for her but that set off her dark prettiness 
admirably. 

There was Nellie Bane in white, and a number 
of other girls were in pretty frocks of varied hues. 
All were flushed and laughing and excited, and 
their happiness made every one of them pretty. 

“Oh, aren’t I beautiful?” cried Laura with en- 
gaging frankness as she pirouetted before the mir- 
ror. Then she turned to Billie and hugged her rap- 
turously. “And you’re gorgeous, honey,” she 
cried. “I see where we don’t get even a boy apiece 
to-night.” 

The boys arrived early. It was lucky that Billie 
could dance with only one boy at a time — or there 
might not have been “enough to go around.” 

“I say, Billie,” Teddy cried once, waltzing her 
over into a corner and gazing at her wonderingly, 
“I never knew you could look like that. What is 
it, anyway? This green and pink thing?” lifting a 
piece of filmy net gingerly between his thumb and 
finger. 

Billie looked up impishly in his face while one 
foot kept time with the music. 

“Don’t ask me,” she said. “It’s because I’m so 
happy, I guess. Oh, come on, Teddy, let’s dance!” 

It was some time later that the three classmates 
happened to find themselves together and alone. 

“Desoited !” cried Laura dramatically. “Where’s 
yours, Billie?” 


204 Billie Bradley and Her Classmates 

“Gone to get me some ice-cream,” said Billie. 

“Wonderful/’ cried Laura. “So has mine!” 

“And mine!” added Vi. 

They giggled happily for a minute and then Billie 
reached out and put an arm about each of her chums. 
She hugged them close, regardless of pretty frocks.. 

“Girls,” she said contentedly, “I think I’m the 
very happiest girl in the world.” 

“Except me,” said Laura. 

“And me !” echoed Vi. “And to think ” she 

added, after they had contentedly watched the happy 
crowd for a few moments. “To think that in a few 
short weeks vacation will be here.” 

“Well,” said Laura decidedly, “if we have any 
more fun this summer than we’ve had this winter, 
we’ll have to go some!” 

“We shall indeed,” said Billie, happily. 


THE END 



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